


Akai Senkou

by shini_amaryllis



Series: Changes in the Leaves [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fuu is alive, Human Experimentation, Ichibi has twin Jinchuuriki, Matsuri and Ino training to be medic-nin from the start, Medic-nin, Mito as the overworked underpaid assistant to the Hokage, Sakura gets better at combat, Shika and Mito have are really low key relationship at first, unknown Jinchuuriki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-05-26 12:58:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 149,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shini_amaryllis/pseuds/shini_amaryllis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She's a prodigy, then?" Asuma raised his eyes slightly. "Don't let her hear you say that, she hates that kind of terminology. She considers prodigies people who dont have to work hard to be the best; her philosophy is the opposite. Besides, you don't end up with a name like 'Red Flash' without working hard and having some kind of skill." Competent!Ino Medic!Matsuri Alive!Fuu<br/>-Abandoned and undergoing a massive rewrite</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Left Behind

The morning was young in Konoha. The birds chirped and the wind whistled through the branches of the trees, giving off a peaceful feel, but that peace was fractured and one-sided, and there were two who stood on the opposite side, separated from the villagers and the other shinobi.

Violet eyes scowled out of the window, disdain evident on her face as she turned to fix one of the Hokage portraits with a stare. Shaggy white hair, red eyes, and marks on either cheek…she had inherited a few traits from her great-grandfather, Senju Tobirama.

Sarutobi Hiruzen scrutinized the descendent of his teacher as he puffed smoke out from around his pipe. The ANBU uniform seemed so large on her thin and small twelve year old frame.

"I took a gamble when I admitted you into the ANBU Corps," he said finally, causing the violet eyes to shift to him instead of the Nidaime Hokage's portrait. Hiruzen found the penetrating stare he was subjected to was rather like Tobirama's. "But the work you performed was exceptional, especially considering your age and birthplace." There weren't many Suna-born kunoichi that sought asylum in Konoha, and only one had been the missing daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage, Rasa.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said, bowing her head respectfully. "But I still failed the mission two weeks ago…though, one has to wonder how that knowledge came to be known by the village." Her eyes narrowed just slightly as if daring him to look into finding the source, but she already knew who it was, or at least, she had an accurate guess.

"A breach in protocol that we are still investigating," he assured her and she held back a scoffing noise in the back of her throat. "I urge you to reconsider your decision, Mito-san."

But Senju Mito did not bend, and she wasn't about to start.

"With all due respect, sir," Mito said with as much politeness as she could muster, "the Council clearly doesn't consider me to be an asset to the village…" She sighed in a forlorn manner, her shoulders slumping into what appeared to be the automatic posture of the Nara Clan, which was hardly surprising given who her sensei was. "I need to get away for a bit…discover myself, I guess…so I'm requesting a twelve month long training mission." Mito tugged at the end of one of her calm crimson locks (though it was not straight without effort, that much was obvious). "I've always been better at doing things on my own…besides, poison study is done better without attachments to major villages." Mito sucked in an unnoticeable breath as her stomach seared under her armor. She lifted a hand to the carved mask that she had moved from hiding her face to resting on the side of her head so that she could meet the Hokage's eyes only moments ago, removing it from her person and handing it over to him.

Hands knotted and wrinkled with age took it from her with a sad sigh. "You will be missed, Mito-san."

"Not by many," Mito promised with another swift bow before ducking out of the room and shutting the door carefully behind her.

"So, how'd it go?"

Mito smiled and the familiar voice that was hardly muffled from behind the ANBU mask. "As well as I'd expect, probably as well as you'd expect…right, Komachi?"

The young woman shrugged, her dark hair pulled in an upsweep that was only held in place by a few dangerously sharp senbon. As Mito's ANBU partner, Aburame Komachi knew many things about her, and she had an uncanny ability to surmise how certain situations would turn out. She held out a finger, to which a small bug flocked to. "Who needs assumptions when you can just get the information yourself?"

Mito cracked another smile.

"I've got another mission to get to, Mito-chan, but I came to see you off and wish you luck," Komachi said, moving forward until she was embracing the red-head. "You'll do great out there, I know it…and when you come back, you'll far surpass me—"

Mito began to protest.

"—and maybe even Tsunade-sama," Komachi added, releasing the girl only to ruffle her hair.

Mito very much doubted that she could surpass her adoptive mother in a matter of months. It would take her years before she was even remotely close, but she opted not to mention that as Komachi leapt away and Mito disappeared in a flash of red.

"Are you ever going to get a new sleeping spot?" she asked lightly as she came to a stop in the Nara lands before a boy her age who, for all intents and purposes seemed to be asleep.

"Hn…no," he grunted, pulling himself up until he was sitting, an action that appeared to take a lot of effort from Mito's perspective, to fix her with a dry stare that made Mito laugh. She untied the happuri around her forehead and slumped to sit down beside him, falling back to the grass with a yawn that would do her sensei proud, sparing him a small glance. Her companion had a constant look of boredom on his face, but Mito didn't mind it; after all, she found his personality to be endearing. And she found his appearance far more attractive than Uchiha Sasuke, with twice the guts, ten times the personality, and a hundred times the intelligence.

Many people wouldn't really agree with her on many points, but mostly on how attractive he was. But he wasn't a pretty boy, and Mito wasn't into the type. His eyes were a soft, gentle brown, surrounded by thick sooty lashes, his facial structure favored his mother's just slightly, though he still bore a striking resemblance to his father, her sensei.

He smirked when he caught her looking and Mito's cheeks reddened just slightly as he fell back to lay beside her and survey the clouds with her as they flowed seamlessly over the soft blue sky.

Nara Shikamaru had generally viewed women as loud, brash, and generally far too much work to deal with, but Senju Mito wasn't like that at all. She was intelligent –you had to be when you were apprenticed to someone like his father, the Jounin Commander– and calm, but also spontaneous with a temper if someone pushed her too far, fierce, and protective. She always greeted him with a smile, making faces at him when she lost at shogi. She could be shy, but she was very confident in her abilities, though not overconfident, she knew where to draw the line.

His eyes fell to her arms with held two tattoos on each appendage. Two were the ANBU spiral on her upper arm, just under the kanji for heart and accept that she had carved into her shoulders years previously (why, he couldn't fathom, but the words must have meant something to her).

"You're leaving, right? That twelve-month training trip, or something like that?" he asked her finally.

Mito exhaled loudly in the silence. "That's the plan." She shifted to her side to look at him. "Are you mad?"

"Do I look mad?" Shikamaru retorted.

"Not really," Mito conceded, "but you're kind of hard to read."

He spared her a smirk. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"You do that." She tapped a finger against the back of his hand, like she had done years ago when they first met. "I want to stay," she admitted, her words causing him to turn slightly to face her, "but…there are some things I need to work out."

"Like self-control?" Shikamaru offered, regretting it the second the words left his lips, but all Mito did was arch an eyebrow.

"Like self-control," Mito agreed, "and when I come back I'll be better, and I will come back, I promise."

"You might come across a better village than Konoha," Shikamaru said, sitting up, a movement that Mito quickly replicated, "what will stop you from staying?"

"None of those villages will have you or any of my friends," Mito reminded him, tucking her happuri into his hands. "Never worry about that."

"Who said I'm worried?" Shikamaru asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Her own arched in surprise and confusion (if he wasn't worried then why had he asked?) when he cupped her cheek, immediately drawing heat to her face even before he pressed his lips to hers in a slow lazy kiss, one that had her lips curling into a smile beneath his.

She sighed as he released her. "I'll miss you, Shikamaru-kun." Her lips lingered on the crown of his head, her Nara clan necklace catching the light, nearly blinding him as she straightened up, running a hand through her short crimson hair, her violet eyes glinting like purple kaleidoscopes. She spared him a last smile before descending from the small hill, heading back towards the entrance.

"You're the strongest person I know, Mito!" Shikamaru called after her, smirking as she turned back, her cheeks flushed as she grinned.

"You're the smartest person I know, Shikamaru-kun!" she yelled back, throwing a wave as she headed back to the Senju compound, even though it wasn't necessarily true, as his father was probably the smartest person in the village.

And she disappeared in a blur of red, vanishing from Konoha all-together.

* * *

Mito straightened her new outfit with a sigh. Dresses weren't really her style, but then people wouldn't really associate Senju Mito with dresses, so maybe that was good, besides, most of her clothes were already worn down from training. So that left her with a short white fighting kimono and fishnet shorts that went only a few inches past the hem, and her arm guards that were barely hidden under the green haori that Shikamaru had given her for her birthday that bore the crest of the Nara clan.

"Naoru-sama's not going to care what you're wearing anyways," she reminded herself before counting down to the second until she and all her baggage disappeared in a poof of smoke.

When Mito opened her eyes once more she was in a place she hadn't been for quite some time. Returning to Mount Suisha made Mito nostalgic. She was the first person in a very long time to enter its domain, and that was only after being decidedly foolish–just like her godfather, Sandaime-sama had noted when he had had her explain just where she had been for two whole days, during which she had been unaccounted for–and attempted to use the **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** **(Summoning Technique)** without a summoning contract, landing her in the middle of a terrain that she did not recognize, with rather large tanuki peering down on her.

Mito inhaled the moist air from the many streams that flowed down from the mountain. Mount Suisha was very different from the other sacred lands of summoning animals, in that it appeared relatively normal, with simple springs and trees spread sparsely about, not as over-sized as Mount Myouboku.

"I did it!" a voice yipped. "Did you see that, Tou-san?! I summoned Mito-sama!"

Mito allowed an amused smile to break across her tired face. She recognized the tanuki kit instantly, after all, he was one of Arashi's brood.

"Well done, Bunseki," Arashi's familiar growling voice commented high above Mito's head, as he was one of the largest tanuki present on the mountain.

"Hello, Mito-sama!" Bunseki bounded up to Mito, pressing his front paws on her chest as he gave her cheek an enthusiastic lick. Mito chuckled and ruffled the fur of his head affectionately.

"Hello, Bunseki-san," she said simply, "you've grown." It was true; the last time she'd seen him, she could hold him easily in her hands, but now he was the size of a small dog, nothing compared to his father, though. Contrary to popular belief, tanuki weren't excessively fat, in fact, their appearance was reminiscent of wolves or foxes, only with some rather obvious differences, such as the darker color of the fur, the bushiness of the tail, and the black fur around the eyes.

"Yup!" Bunseki's lips pulled back to reveal his needle sharp teeth, grinning brightly at her. "I've been eating all my vegetables and meats, just like Kaa-san told me! And she says one day I'll be as big as Tou-san!"

"I'm sure you will," Arashi rumbled, "but Mito is late as it is, and Naoru-sama is expecting her."

Bunseki dropped from Mito, bowing his head, his ears falling back in defeat, lumbering away in a huff. A soft laugh escaped Mito as she patted Arashi's leg.

The normally quite humorous tanuki gazed her seriously. "I don't anticipate your stay being much longer than a few days, maybe a week, depending on your skills."

Her eyes narrowed and she nodded, bidding her friend goodbye as she hiked up the many stone steps that led to Naoru-sama's humble abode. The aged tanuki sage screamed when she saw her old apprentice, and then proceeded to throw her paws around the girl's neck. Naoru was very much like an old grandmother where Mito was concerned, dragging her to the dinner table and practically force feeding her a collection of deliciously spiced meats, fruits, and vegetables before sending her off to bed early amid laughter.

* * *

The training area at the Senju compound was quiet, deathly quiet, but that was to be expected, as Mito had been the only one who had lived on it when she wasn't away on missions, and it would be a year before she returned. Naruto sighed softly, the loneliness filling him up once more, but he squashed it down, settling into a familiar stance. It was a new style that Mito had developed just for him, called Tori Style. It was a Taijutsu form that incorporated the Goken style into a more fortified position. It was used for executing quick, jarring moves that could either unbalance the user or injure the enemy; it was a quick-response style, using a small amount of Mito's brute strength. She had promised to help him with it when she returned home, telling him to work hard on it while she was away, and maybe then, she'd teach him some helpful techniques.

Naruto leaned his weight proportionally on both his feet, spreading them slightly, his hands balled into fists, even with his shoulders as he struck the tree repeatedly and harshly.

"What'd that tree ever do to you?" a voice joked and Naruto twisted around suddenly to see his blonde friend.

Yamanaka Ino's green eyes twinkled at the Uzumaki. "Still moping because Mito's gone?"

He didn't dignify that with an answer, giving her only an indignant huff. Ino could be fun, or irritating, depending on what mood she was in, usually fun. She was one of Mito's apprentices, and she was really good at Medical Ninjutsu, but she was choosing to hide her skills, mainly because she wanted to "freak the shit out of Sakura in the Chuunin Exams."

"We're going to be late for school if you don't hurry," Ino said in a mild voice, eerily reminiscent of Mito's. "Wouldn't want to get on Iruka-sensei's bad side again, would you?"

He snorted. "I get on his bad side so many times that I doubt I've never not been on his bad side," he mused. But then his smile dropped.

Ino smiled kindly, holding out a hand to the morose boy. "Come on, I won't bite." The same could not be said for several minutes later, though Naruto was grateful her anger wasn't directed at him.

"YOU _IDIOT_!"

Shikamaru had to duck as a heavy textbook was thrown at his head…though, he supposed he could've just hidden behind Naruto who was still engrossed in his book on Fuuinjutsu, seemingly unaware of his surroundings. "Troublesome blonde!" he groused, ducking again. "Stop throwing things at me!"

The rest of their class was looking on in avid interest, wondering just what Shikamaru had done to get Ino so riled up.

Ino was glaring venomously at her childhood friend, stabbing a finger in the lazy academy student's direction. "You aren't going to see your girlfriend for twelve months, the least you could've done was walk her out of the village, but no! You two had to have a romantic rendezvous instead!" It was hard to tell what exactly she was so mad about; the fact that he hadn't walked her out or the fact that she'd missed their goodbye.

"You're such a pain!" Shikamaru complained as Iruka-sensei entered the room, giving them new seats that unfortunately separated Naruto from the rest of his friends. Chouji and Naruto were the most vocal about it.

"Iruka-sensei, that's not fair!"

"Come on, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto complained. "Now I can't cheat off Ino on tests!"

He froze at the amount of Killer Intent directed in his direction. Ino cracked her knuckles dangerously, her light eyes glinting with malevolence that had even practiced shinobi like Iruka and Mizuki-sensei stepping back. "What do you just say, Naruto?!" she growled dangerously. "You copied off me?!"

It was at this moment that Naruto decided to take a chance and flee out the window, closely followed by an enraged Ino yelling expletives down the street after him. Hinata gazed at the window nervously, worrying about her best friend and crush.

"Maa, don't worry Hinata," Shikamaru drawled out lazily, "Ino's not going to kill him…hopefully." He didn't seem too worried about the male blonde in question.

"Here's to hoping," Chouji added, raising an invisible glass in a toast. He bent down to pick up the book to read the inscription inside the cover:

_To my favorite Uzumaki, in the hopes that you will enjoy this field as much as your parents did._

_Yours, Yoshino._

Chouji remembered that day, when Naruto came storming into the Nara compound, looking for Yoshino-oba of all people, going off a hunch of something Mito had said, something about his being the son of the Yondaime, and Chouji had to admit, son and father bore a remarkably resemblance to each other, if one looked properly. But most didn't.

_"You were really on the same squad as the Yondaime?" Ino asked in awe, staring at Yoshino as if she'd never quite seen her properly. "Under the great Sannin, Jiraiya?"_

_Yoshino laughed lightly. "Well, Minato was his favorite, but all sensei have favorites, someone they're slightly closer to; I suspect your own sensei will become closer to one of you when you become Genin, all sensei do."_

_"Who else was on your team?" Chouji asked, slurping up his soup, gazing at the woman intently._

_"Hyuuga Hizashi." Yoshino's smile was sad as she said that name. "He died back when you were all three, during the Hyuuga Incident; you're probably too young to remember it." She sighed. "I hear his son is more skilled than he was… anyways, back to Minato. He always seemed like a bit of a sissy to me, even back in the Academy," she said with a gleam in her eye, "you should have seen the way Kushina and I yelled at him and Shikaku…"_

_"Kushina, Yoshino-oba?" Naruto asked, still a bit overwhelmed._

_"Uzumaki Kushina, your mother," Yoshino informed him, ruffling his bright blonde spikes affectionately. "She was a bit on the crazy side, a prankster, always saying dattebane this, dattebane that. Her brute strength rivaled Tsunade's, I believe, but I think Minato liked that about her."_

_"What'd she look like?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide with wonder._

_Yoshino held up a finger, stalling his speech momentarily as she riffled through one of her drawers to pull out a photo album, sifting through the pages until she reached the one she was looking for. "Ah! Here it is!"_

_They all stared intently and in surprise at the picture that was clearly of an infant Shikamaru fast asleep in the arms of a red-haired woman with whom Mito bore a striking resemblance to with her vibrant hair and violet eyes. "That was after we told her that we decided to name her and Minato Shikamaru's godparents, with Jiraiya being the default choice…our poor sensei was very sulky after that…" She pointed to the picture below it. "And that's Team Three and their respective children." A young man with soft features and dark brown hair was smiling pleasantly with his arms around his small son to the left of the picture, while the man and woman identified as Minato and Kushina embraced at the center, their smiles lighting up the photo, and Yoshino stood to the right, cradling a barely awake Shikamaru who was apparently on the vestiges of sleep, if how he was tucked into his mother's neck was anything to go by. "Kushina happened upon us right before we were going to take that photo," she admitted with a laugh._

_"But…I'm not there," Naruto said forlornly, "you said all their children, but I'm not-"_

_"Of course you're there!" Yoshino refuted, pointing at Kushina's bulging stomach. "See? That bump is you, kiddo."_

_Naruto took a moment to rub his eyes, hiding his tears._

_"You should have seen how excited they were when Kushina found out she was pregnant," Yoshino said softly, removing the picture from the page. "Here, this is for you, my adorable godson."_

_Naruto blushed brightly. "But, it's yours-!"_

_"Bah!" Yoshino waved him off with her hand. "I've got tons of extras, kiddo, don't worry."_

_"Arigatou," Naruto breathed, holding the photo reverently, as if it was worth more to him than the treasures of the world, which it probably was._

* * *

"What happened to Hiro-sama?" Mito asked the next day over breakfast. "I was surprised that he wasn't here when I got in."

Naoru was far from concerned. "Oh don't worry about that old lug," she said, waving a careless paw in reference to her husband and mate, "he's just on his annual fast."

"And he can't be near you or your food because it's just that good?" Mito guessed with a laugh."That makes sense, I guess."

Naoru chortled for a moment before her eyes sharpened. "Now that all our pleasantries are aside, we can properly discuss why you have returned."

She gave a small nod to the wise tanuki, coming around the table to lift her shirt and channel the barest bit of chakra through the surface of her skin, revealing the seal that lay beneath. Naoru nosed the girl's midriff as she stared at the seal intently. "If I'm correct," she mused, "this is a **Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style** ). They're pretty rare to be used on Jinchuuriki, I believe you and that Kyuubi brat are the only ones with this kind of seal."

"Why's that?" Mito asked, releasing the hem of her shirt as she gazed at her teacher, curious to know the answer.

"Well, it takes a lot of skill, for one," Naoru admitted. "When Rasa-baka used this seal on Karura-chan, he thought it backfired, and that was because he was unaware she was pregnant with twins. It never occurred to him that your seal would be far stronger than your brother's." Her eyes flashed up to meet Mito's. "Has it been burning you?"

"Quite a bit," Mito admitted. The pain had been a constant thorn in her side for the past few weeks, at that was at least two or three years after she'd accidentally woken Shukaku up after a surprise meeting with her siblings, when she had been gored through by a stake of sand, courtesy of her lovely twin brother, Gaara.

"Come with me!" Naoru leapt through the kitchen to the exit, disappearing out onto the deadly cliff.

"Great," Mito bemoaned, following cautiously all the same. The climb alone was treacherous all by itself, but that was nothing compared to the trial she would soon face. When she had finally caught up to the swift tanuki, she was in front of a spring, with a small waterfall flowing over sharp jutting rocks above, and a small green grassed island large enough for someone to sit on.

"Naoru-sama," she said, curiosity piqued, "what exactly is this place?"

"We call it the _Yami no Taki_ ," Naoru explained, stepping back from a small drink of the fresh water, "the Waterfall of Darkness, because it shows you the darkest side of yourself."

That had Mito reeling backwards slightly. "The darkest side…of me?" she gasped, remembering something her sensei used to tell her: _You're your own worst enemy, Mito-chan, there is no greater rival than your own abilities._

"Are you _sure_ you want to go through with this?" Naoru implored, her dark fur glinting in the sunlight. "This training _will_ be dangerous. It could _kill_ you."

 _"You're the strongest person I know, Mito."_ Shikamaru's words echoed in her ears like one symbol banging against another over and over again. She swallowed her fear and breathed in deeply, walking over the water to sit on the small island, closing her eyes.

"Why did you run away after the Nara brat gave you that kiss?" a cold voice uttered from beyond the waterfall, something red breaking through the surface until a whole figure stood before her. Mito couldn't help but stare. It was her, like she was looking in a mirror. Her vibrant hair, though soaked, was spikier than it had been in years; the rings around her eyes that were so slight were now thick, standing out darkly against the pallor of her skin; her eyes were cold and detached, and golden like Shukaku's; and her smirk exposed her canines which she had once sharpened with her chakra to scare off whoever she sought to frighten. It had never occurred to Mito just how dangerous and scary a six year old could seem. "Was it because he made your skin crawl? He made mine," she laughed cruelly.

"I didn't run away," Mito corrected hotly, "I was summoned."

"Same difference," she scoffed.

"Who're you?" Mito asked, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"Haven't you guessed?" the girl mocked. "My, how standards have fallen for Senju-sama to take on a brainless student!"

"You're my dark side?" Mito asked, almost incredulous, disregarding that jibe at her intelligence; she had grown used to _that_ abuse after living in Konoha for so long.

"All those villagers," she said, ignoring Mito, her eyes hard, "treating you like scum because someone leaked that you had red chakra…well, it's not really surprising, is it? After all, Jinchuuriki are treated the same in every village, aren't they? And those fools didn't even know you were just like Naruto!" She burst out into high and cruel laughter as she finished speaking, bending over to brace herself against her knees.

Mito flinched at her words. They stung worse than burns.

Not-Mito smirked up at her. "You know, there's only one major difference between you and me… Shukaku likes me better!"

Not-Mito was all the anger she had held at bay for years, only now boiling to the surface. She was one of the things to drove Mito forward to defy the restraints of time and bodily strain, to become something renowned. That was how Konoha no Akai Senkou was borne.

"I gave you power," Not-Mito scorned her, "power to create your own destiny, but you threw it away…don't you remember that mission to Kusa?"

Mito froze, guilt and shame expanding inside her. The mission had been a success, technically, but the enemy she had faced and pushed her too far, and she had attacked, blinded with rage, drawing on the power of the Ichibi. And thus, Mito categorized it as a failure.

_"I'm a monster! That's what you're trying to say, isn't it!?" Mito yelled at her sensei, her hand sending the shogi board flying, standing and glaring, her eyes filled with sparkling tears. "So just say it, Shikaku-sensei! Say that there's nothing human about me, that there's nothing but power and death in my path! Say I don't deserve to live! Say I'm no descendant of Tobirama-ojii!"_

_Shikaku watched the rant that his apprentice gave him impassively, fully aware of his wife and son listening at the door, patiently waiting for the moment when her speech was stalled._

_"Don't talk about things you don't believe in, Mito."_

_A startled gasp escaped her lips as she reeled back. "What did you say?!"_

_"Standing before me is a kunoichi who has the possibility for greatness, just like her mother." He said, his voice as mild as ever. "She is the only one I would ever take on as my apprentice. I don't care if she's one of the two Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi." His dark eyes froze her in her place and the tears began to freely fall. "Because she is my apprentice who hides everything and nothing at all," Shikaku leaned down so they were eye to eye, "but that mask is breaking and now you have to decide what you really are, and that scares you more than anything, doesn't it?"_

Mito closed her eyes, thinking long and hard. When she opened them, they glinted with determination.

"Since you are me, using force would be foolish, because anything I did to you would be reflected back onto me," she mused aloud.

Not-Mito's eyes narrowed. "You won't be able to kick me out of your subconscious either, if that's what you're planning."

Mito's smile this time reached her eyes. "You were lying earlier."

Her eyes widened slightly. "I don't know what you mean."

"About Shikamaru-kun," Mito informed her, "you liked it as much as I did, since you're, you know, _me_."

Not-Mito growled. "Why _you-!_ Who cares if one boy likes you! The whole village scorns you, just like at Suna! They're all liars who only care about themselves! What gives them the right to treat us like outcasts?! Don't you remember all the pain and suffering you went through because of villagers who only thought of you as a monster?! I'm the one that's always been by your side! No matter how hard it got, how much pain we were in, I stayed! Because I'm the only one who will every understand you! You can't trust any of them! Even Shikaku-sensei's just pretending, even if you consider him a father figure!"

_The afternoon was young, the sun dappling the grass of the compound with light that filtered through the trees, spreading out through the wilderness. It was very quiet, but if one listened intently, they would be able to hear the steady hum of voices, but one didn't have to listen hard to hear the click of wood on wood._

_"Risky move, there," Shikaku commented, his voice low and gravelly, lazy, but sharp, black orbs surveyed the young girl that was his apprentice._

_"Some risks are worth taking, aren't they, Sensei?" she replied easily, her voice sly. "After all, your wife is practically a risk all by herself."_

_The Nara Head chuckled lightly on agreement concerning Yoshino. "Speaking of risks," he continued, taking her lance, his eyes resting on hers; black meeting violet. "Do you think it was wise to tell Naruto?"_

_Mito pondered that, her sharp eyes roving over the pieces that remained; hers were remarkably less than his, but she hadn't anticipated a win against him, after all, she only won against his son half the time, and he was undoubtedly better. "Perhaps not wise," she admitted, taking his rook with a swipe of her bishop, "but Naruto's got a good head on his shoulders; he can keep a secret. Besides," she sounded offhanded, "every child wants to hear that their father is the village hero." No, it was bitter, bitter towards her father, Kazekage-sama._

_Shikaku's attention waned as he looked towards the hill he was sure his own son was slumbering on. His son, his pride and joy, his successor, the one to carry on his wisdom to the next generation. Sometimes he wondered if the two were the same. Shikaku sighed; he wasn't a very good father to the boy._

_"Stop looking like that," Mito ordered, scrunching up her nose slightly. "Shikamaru-kun loves you for being you; you're a perfect father."_

_A dark eyebrow arched. "How can you be so sure?"_

_Purple eyes rolled at that question. "Look, my…what I'm saying is, as long as you don't go sealing Bijuu into pregnant women and then teach infants Kinjutsu, and then refuse to be in the same room as them for more than a few minutes, then you'd have to be a good father." Mito raked a fair hand through her once wild hair, though it had now grown out, pooling over her shoulders, hiding her face behind a blood waterfall, unrestrained by her happuri or hair tie. "All a father has to do is believe in his child, you have done that." She squeezed his larger fingers. "He is proud to have you as his father, just as I am proud to have you as my sensei."_

Mito's smile was soft, recalling that small heart-to-heart she had with her sensei. "The villagers are important, but there's someone I have to trust first before I can convince them that I'm trustworthy." Violet met gold. "I have to trust myself, trust the me that Shikaku-sensei taught, that Kaa-chan raised, and that Shikamaru-kun trusted."

Not-Mito took a small step back, her eyes wide, her eyebrows raised, and her lips ajar in surprise. And then those hate-filled golden eyes shone with unshed tears as she collapsed to her knees. "How could you? After all that's been done to us…how can you forgive them?!"

"Because hate only breeds more hate," Mito said simply, walking towards the kneeling girl to wrap her arms around her, "Shikaku-sensei's taught me that. Even when he found out about my burden, a burden that's such a secret that not even my own family knows the truth, he didn't judge me at all, he takes me as I am. To him, and to Shikamaru-kun and all my friends, I'm simply Senju Mito, adoptive daughter of Senju Tsunade and the great-granddaughter to the Nidaime Hokage." She squeezed her tightly. "It's because of you that I've gotten this far, so thank you, but it's time for you to become me again, the me I've been waiting to be all along."

Not-Mito's grip tightened as she sobbed, but they soon faded all together as she evaporated before Mito's very eyes, and once Mito blinked, her vision had cleared and she turned around to raise an eyebrow at Naoru. "That's not it, is it?" she deadpanned.

"Of course not," Naoru agreed, rolling her eyes, jerking her nose upwards. "You're final test will take place on the plateau."

"Great," Mito moaned, stretching tiredly, "I knew you were going to say that."

"But," Naoru continued, "I have to tell you what you will be doing before hand, because it is a terrain in which I cannot trespass, and give you a warning: the last person, the last Jinchuuriki who was here, the holder of the Sanbi, the three-tails, did not survive."

Mito gritted her teeth together, her jaw set stubbornly as she gazed up the plateau. "I'll do it."

Naoru bent her head, sighing slightly. "I thought you'd say that. Alright, here's what you will be doing. You have the key don't you?" Mito nodded seriously; Jiraiya-oji had given it to her the last time they saw each other. "You'll be meeting Shukaku in your subconscious and undoing the seal. Once Shukaku is free of his cage, you'll grab onto his chakra with your own and pull his out. You will have to touch the Ichibi directly when you use your chakra to pull at its chakra. This part is extremely difficult, because if Shukaku pulls your chakra away, you'll be left with zero–that's what happened with the Sanbi–, or he'll try to leak his will into the chakra so you'll be consumed by hatred." Naoru stood up on her hind legs so she was more level with Mito. "Make no mistake, Mito, this could kill you…are you still willing to go through with this?"

The plateau was so high, disappearing into the lowest clouds that hung over Mount Suisha. When Mito had first come to the mountain, she had heard the stories around the plateau, how if you climbed it, you became more spiritual, more in tune with yourself, but no one ever dared to venture up. Mito clenched her fist, but still she nodded; she'd do anything to get that beast under control. So, she quietly and slowly walks up the sloping path, the only sound her ears picked up was the hammering of her heart against her chest, each heart beat creating a constant, echoing rhythm. Her nervousness increased, but her resolve did not falter, even as she sat at the top and closed her eyes, awakening in the sewer that she had–unfortunately–grown familiar of.

Before her sat a circular cage and inside lay a beast of great proportions. She had become familiar with his sandy-brown fur, with odd black markings splashed across the fur, and the needle sharp teeth, as well as the yellow iris' with the black four pointed star surrounded by four black dots. He was her beast of burden, her ever-present nightmare; Shukaku, the Ichibi.

She was undeterred by the glare as she walked towards the seal, not faltering as Shukaku growled out, **"Where is your hatred, little jailor?"**

"Oh it's gone, Shukaku," she said with a smile eerily similar to her mother's. She ripped off the sealing paper hiding the circular seal from view. Mito looped the hem of her shirt up and down through the neckline, so her tetragram seal was clearly visible.

 **"What are you doing?"** Shukaku demanded, but Mito didn't answer him as her fingers lit with a soft blue fire and the key's seal wrote itself over her palm and arm. She placed her hand on the seal on her midriff and twisted, allowing for the seal on Shukaku's cage to slowly but surely open. Mito jumped back as soon as the latch swung open, swinging upwards as Shukaku flung it open. He gave a roar of freedom, as he leapt out of the cage, his tail swinging in every direction as a blur of fur.

"Tch!" Mito mentally swore at his strength, crossing her fingers into a 'T'. **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)!"** A good hundred clones popped up, each with their hands glowing with chakra, while Mito focused her own chakra. Mito might not have been well known for her use of Ninjutsu, but her Taijutsu and brute strength was well known.

Shukaku swatted several away, causing them to pop out of existence, but the others latched onto him, crushing their fists into his fur. But that would only occupy him for so long, so her chakra-based shadow gripped the chakra at the tip of his tail and pulled as Mito moved backwards.

She lost focus three times as Shukaku fought against her and her clones, but finally she got his tail and pulled hard. "Will _. You. Hold_. **Still**!" she yelled, swinging him so he crashed onto his back, her summoned clones moving forward to strike again. Her chakra grabbed his again and pulled hard, and she braced herself when it began to bleed red with Shukaku's will. Before long the blue had completely disappeared, leaving only red in its wake.

_Hatred…Revenge…Suffering…Pain…Loneliness…Loss...Death..._

Mito clutched her head as a mass of thoughts entered her mind, and none of them were her own.

Shukaku gave a stuttering chuckle, still recovering from the brute force of the attacks made by Mito's clones who had dissipated by now. **"You will never be able to control my power! I am the greatest of the Nine Bijuu!"**

" _SHUT UP!"_ she roared, only to blink in surprise when she found herself in a different area away from the Shukaku.

"It's alright," a gentle voice hummed close to her. "You're safe here, my daughter."

"Daughter?" Mito twisted around suddenly to find herself face to face with a woman with whom she bore a remarkable resemblance to. Her dancing eyes were a bright violet, the exact shade of Mito's own, and her sandy-brown hair was several shades darker than Temari's.

She smiled the soft smile that Mito was so fond of as she reached out to cradle her cheek in her hands. Her eyes warmed like the summer sun. "You've grown up beautifully, Mito-chan."

A gasp escaped her before she could silence it. She bit her trembling lip as tears leaked out of her eyes. "Kaa-sama."

Senju Karura's smiling lips brushed against the violet rhombus on her forehead. Her smile was tender as she leaned back, gazing over her daughter in full. "Give my thanks to Tsunade-sama for showing you the light in the darkness."

"You know Kaa-chan?" Mito asked surprised.

Karura wiped away a tear that had fallen down her daughter's cheek. "In a sense, we are cousins, descended from the Senju brothers, Hashirama and Tobirama." Karura took a step back, her eyes still trained on Mito. She blushed. "Ah, forgive me," she apologized, unknowingly copying a movement her daughter often did, scratching her cheek in embarrassment, "it's just so hard to imagine that fragile little baby as this confident young woman who stands before me. You remind me a great deal of my cousin, and my mother, you have a lot of her coloring." Karura's fingers twirled around a lock of Mito's bright hair. She chuckled softly. "But you have my temperament…that's good."

Her eyes glinted. "I placed a complex seal on my stomach before Rasa-kun sealed the Shukaku inside both you and Gaara that would bind my chakra to his seal so I could help you if you ever needed it." She looked down at her hands which were starting to become transparent. "I don't have much longer, Mito-chan, but here is a message for you and your siblings."

"Hm?" Mito murmured, still memorizing her mother's face.

"I love you."

Mito's tears sprung anew, her shoulders shaking as she pulled her into a warm embrace. "Gaara-chan might not want to hear this for awhile, but when he's ready, will you tell him that love can make someone great and strong, that he has the power to make his own destiny and choose his own path?"

"And what about me?" Mito's voice cracked at the end.

Karura tugged on a lock of her hair. "You are a gift, my daughter. You hold within you a rare Kekkei Genkai, but you understand above all things that this bloodline is not to be used lightly. It requires in depth training, training you have never had time for, but in time, all the sides of you will come together; the side bound to sand, the side bound to leaf, the side bound to mist. Never lose who you truly are, never forsake your ideals."

Mito wiped her tears, squaring her jaw in resolution. "I won't, Kaa-sama."

"Good," Karura smiled, "now we can deal with the Ichibi."

Mito opened her eyes and gasped as she found herself back in the sewer, threads of blue chakra holding Shukaku at bay, her mother's words echoing in her ears. And with a roar of new-found strength, she sent her chakra back through his, pulling out more and more as she went through. "Not enough," she grunted, making a hand sign. " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"**

Chakra collected into their hands, before colliding aggressively with the demon, battering him painfully.

Poor Shukaku didn't anticipate the attack being a diversion as she drained him of the last of his chakra and resealed him in the cage while he was still recovering from the onslaught of attacks. His roar of rage was the last thing she heard as her eyes opened on top of the plateau, a wide grin splitting her face, feeling happier than she'd felt in a very long time.


	2. Long Awaited Return

She had a habit of gaining a lot of unwanted attention, Jiraiya had to admit as he weaved through the crowd with his goddaughter at her side. She had long since worn out her typical shinobi garb, opting for a white kimono that fell to her thighs with slits up the sides and fish nets. The long sleeves hid her arm guards, the only symbol of her being a kunoichi. She had grown out her hair enough that it could be pinned up in two buns with seals hanging from her hair decals, her long bangs pinned to the side of her face to reveal the violet rhombus at the center of her forehead. She had obviously taken her inspiration from her great-grandaunt, Uzumaki Mito, with only slight differences.

"Maa, Jiraiya-oji." Mito's voice pulled him out of his thoughts as she jutted out her lower lip at him in an adorable pout. "Why can't we go faster? I don't like to keep people waiting."

She was referring to how the Hokage had given her an unofficial assignment to assist the Sunan hospital, one she was not particularly looking forward to if her abysmal expression was anything to go by. Clearly, she still held some resentment towards the village she had once been a guardian of.

Putting on a bright smile, Jiraiya gave her an enthusiastic nod. "Sure, kid…think you can keep up?"

The grin she gave him was the smile of a dead woman. It was Uzumaki Kushina's feral grin that told him he was about to be proven wrong. "Oji-san," she all but purred, her voice low and laced with humor, "I think you will find that it is you that has to keep up with _me_."

She wasn't wrong, Jiraiya decided as she disappeared in a flash of red, racing after her at paces that would make all but Taijutsu enthusiasts gape uncomprehendingly (Back in Konoha Maito Gai and Rock Lee sneezed). At that speed, racing across the desert was no problem at all, especially since their time wasn't stalled by sandstorms that often plagued traders and shinobi leaving and entering the village. They only slowed to a normal, perceivable pace so that the guards at the gate wouldn't freak out when they saw them suddenly appear. As it was, they were freaked out enough by the sight of the Kazekage's youngest daughter. Mito couldn't really fault them for that; if she saw someone coming out of the desert that had once had the unseemly habit of slitting the throat of shinobi who looked down on her, she would have been _fucking terrified_.

"What are you being such a pansy about?!" Mito perked up slightly when she heard the sound of her abrasive elder sister as she stared down the guards, two mid-twenty year old men who looked like they were about to piss their pants once they caught sight of her.

Mito arched an eyebrow at the terrified glances that were shot to her, sweat-dropping at their antics; surely she wasn't that terrifying, was she? She sighed softly, a sheepish grin settling onto her face. "Ah, my apologies, I'm afraid I startled them a bit."

Temari hadn't changed much since she'd last seen her, but even that had been years ago, before she had been drafted into ANBU. Her sandy-blonde hair was still in its trade-mark four pigtails, and that tessen was still strapped to her back, but she'd opted for a more flattering off-the-shoulder pale lavender dress than before. Next to her, Mito felt a great deal overdressed, but she didn't let it bother her.

Temari's green eyes immediately went to Mito's violet ones. The delicately slanted eyes and shade of purple were identical to their mother's, but Mito had these two strange birthmarks that looked remarkably like scars, a slash mark on either cheek that set her a bit apart from others. She would recognize that face anywhere.

"Mito?"

Her sheepish smile widened. "You don't know any other combination of red hair and purple eyes, do you?"

Temari gave an excited yell as she flung her arms around her baby sister, ignoring the noises of warning from the two guards, squeezing her so tightly that Jiraiya vaguely wondered if she was masking a murder attempt. That thought was dissipated when she released Mito, still beaming brightly as she held the girl's cheeks in her hands. "You look like Kaa-sama," she said softly, after a long moment.

"Good or bad?" Mito asked with a smile that made her eyes twinkle, even with the position of the setting sun.

"Good, always good," the blonde told her with a grin. "You were always the pretty one."

Mito snorted in an unlady-like manner. "I think you're confusing me with yourself, Nee-chan…mind escorting us to the Kazekage's Tower?"

It was only then that Temari glanced back to the company to Mito had kept, her eyes widening comically at the sight of one of the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya. Mito brought down the heel of her sandal sharply onto his foot, forcing him to hop up and down in pain. Temari hide a snicker, but not very well. Clearly, Mito knew him quite well, if that glare was anything to go by.

"What was that for?!" The Gama Sennin complained vocally, smoothing a hand over his bruised skin.

Mito gave him a blank stare eerily reminiscent of her twin's. "That was for being an idiot, Oji-san." She turned back to Temari, her face noticeably wryer. "Sorry about him, my godfather isn't well known for his restraint…now, the Kazekage's Tower, Nee-chan?"

If Temari's eyes widened anymore, they were going to pop right out of her head, Mito had mentally decided, but the older girl visibly shook herself. "Oh, its this way."

As Mito and Jiraiya were led away with the still suspicious shinobi watching them from their posts, Mito sighed to her godfather. "Go on, I know you're going to say something."

There was a very pregnant pause, until- "That's Yoshino-chan's necklace, isn't it?" His finger was pointed towards her black choker necklace on which a silver pendant had been clipped, a silver pendant that was shaped exactly like the Nara Clan's symbol. Temari's eyes shifted to the necklace he mentioned, frowning slightly; wasn't that a clan necklace? Given to the woman who was going to marry the clan heir?

Mito's expression did not change. "It is."

Jiraiya's face lit up like fireworks at the Kyuubi Festival –the one event she had never attended at Konoha; she and Naruto would always grab some meat from Yakiniku Q and grill it over the brazier at Mito's place while everyone else was out celebrating- and he pointed offensively at her face. "You're dating that Nara brat, aren't you?!"

"That brat has a name," Mito returned, her eye twitching in irritation, aware of the interest her sister was paying towards their conversation.

He gazed at her sharply. "That brat of theirs must really be something to catch your eye."

Mito's eyes sparked dangerously, like they always did when people insulted her boyfriend. "He is," she said hotly, coming to a stop and placing a hand on her hip in a formidable stance that she had learned from both her mother and Yoshino-san, "but you would know that if you bothered to visit once in awhile."

This time Jiraiya grimaced in real pain. He wasn't good with children, no matter what his students had thought.

"And Naruto!" She added fervently, jabbing him harshly in the ribs with her finger. "You should visit him too, you know, he's very interested in Fuuinjutsu."

Temari wasn't exactly sure who this 'Naruto' was, but apparently Jiraiya knew him, judging by how he flinched and stared at her uncomprehendingly.

"He's into Fuuinjutsu?" Jiraiya asked in surprise.

Mito wondered if she should tell him that the boy knew who his parents were, but then decided maybe Jiraiya could only handle a certain amount of shock in one day. Mito nodded to his question, and had opened her mouth to explain to Temari who Naruto was when Jiraiya asked, "So, is the Nara brat any good?"

Temari felt a great deal more than a bit of irritation towards the white-haired man on her sister's behalf when Mito's face went completely white, the emotion dropping from her already porcelain skin. In the time it took Temari to blink, Jiraiya had been punched through the wall that led to the Kazekage's mission room, with Mito standing over him with a hand fisted into his green kimono shirt, pulling his head upwards from the ground enough to see her free fist that was glowing with chakra.

"If you say anything about your godson," Mito warned in a dangerous voice that reminded Temari distinctly of how she used to be (sending a shiver down her spine as well), "I will show just why I am called the Nidaime Tsunade (Second Tsunade)."

It was only then that Mito realized that she had gained an audience. That audience just so happened to be the Kazekage, her older brother, and her siblings' sensei. To say that they were startled would be an understatement; Kankurou's face had gone a pasty alabaster under his purple war paint.

Her cheeks flushed violently at the attention on her, unaware of Temari gaping at her from behind as she dropped the man into the rubble, another sheepish grin worming its way onto her face as she bowed to the leader of Suna. "Kazekage-sama, you have my humblest apologies for the mess…Oji-san will pay for it." The Kazekage was not the only who noticed the glare and the voice that rung with danger pointed towards the dazed man on the floor. Looking at her stung worse than any infected wound, and the Kazekage could hardly meet her eyes, for standing before him was the ghost of his late wife, reborn in her child. Her cheeks were no longer plump as they had been as a child, her eyes sharper and brighter, and she had gained that violet rhombus on her forehead that told everyone of her lineage.

She winked subtly to Kankurou, her lips upturning slightly as she handed over the scroll the Hokage had given her for her to, in turn, give to the Kazekage, regarding the medical program at Suna. He did not speak for a long moment while Kankurou questioned Temari nonverbally behind Mito's back about whether or not she was really who he thought she was. Temari nodded.

"Everything seems to be in order, Senju-sama," the Kazekage informed her. "And how long is it you plan to stay?"

She shrugged carelessly –a demeanor she had no doubt picked up from Shikaku-sensei. "A month, maybe more, maybe less…I'm not really sure, but I'll be out of your hair sooner or later."

Baki had never met someone who spoke to the Kazekage so casually and informally. It was a bit strange to say the least. It was only much later that he realized where he'd seen her face before; the picture of Sabaku no Karura on the Kazekage's desk.

Not an hour later, Temari and Kankurou found themselves in front of the hotel room that was being rented out to their bright-haired sister.

"You knock."

"You're oldest! You do it!"

The door opened suddenly in front of the pair of bickering siblings, and they found themselves staring to the very girl they had come to see. Her sharp eyes lifted to meet Kankurou's; she smirked. "You didn't need to stand out there for five minutes; I could hear you the second you got here-"

The rest of whatever Mito had been going to say was silenced by the hug Kankurou bestowed upon her. Her eyes softened to warm plum glow as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, noting how much taller he was compared to her.

"It's so good to see you!" she said, after she'd been released from the hug he'd given her (a much gentler one than Temari's; his elder sister had shot him a glare behind Mito's back). "You've changed a lot, but I like the war paint."

Kankurou felt a tiny bit pleased that she had acknowledged that it was paint and not make-up, as Temari so adamantly claimed it was. "You look…great," he told his baby sister honestly, "really great, Mito."

A pleased flush lit Mito's cheeks at the compliment. "Thanks, but it's a work in progress." He didn't have to guess to know that she was referencing her temper which had been particularly volatile as a child, though it seemed to have simmered down since her sudden disappearance from Suna. He had always questioned whether or not she was truly dead, but he had never actually believed that it was possible she survived until Temari came back from border patrol with Baki telling him she'd seen her. Not two days later after that they'd learned that had been hospitalized with serious injuries she'd gained from an unwarranted attack by Gaara.

Yet here she was, healthy and hearty with that smile that told a story. Kankurou wanted to protect that smile, protect that innocent face, and he swore he would, if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

"Very impressive."

Ryoukan lifted his gaze from the medicine he was brewing to direct his attention to the front of the greenhouse where two figures now stood. He recognized the elder as Temari-sama, but he had never seen the second one before, a girl with long hair as crimson as Gaara-sama's, and eyes the same shade as the late Kazehime, but she had a much calmer, more friendly presence, and the violet diamond on her forehead left only one person she could be. A kunoichi that was nearly as gifted as her mother in Medical Ninjutsu, Senju Mito.

"Senju-sama!" Ryoukan bowed lowly. "It is an honor to be in the presence of such a great Medic-nin."

Heat flooded Mito's cheeks and she scratched one of them as Temari snickered beside her. "I'm not that great," she disagreed, "Kaa-chan's way better than me in Medical Ninjutsu, and just call me Mito."

"Mito-sama," he said, not noticing the chagrined look that Mito tossed her sister's way, "have you come to assist the medical program?"

"Just a little bit," Mito said, still gazing around the greenhouse in awe. "I'm surprised how much medicinal herbs you have here. It speaks volumes for your diligence." Her fingers brushed over the delicate leaves of the Mandra Plant.

"Arigatou, Mito-sama," he said, pleased at the compliment.

"Need any extra hands?" she asked nodding to the mixture before him, inhaling slightly. "For chakra replenishment, right?"

He blinked in surprise. "You can tell that by smell alone?"

Mito smiled slightly. "You're talking to someone who learned about herbs from Tsunade, as well as someone who was blind for about two years; heightened smell is a bit of a given." Ryoukan flushed slightly despite it not being a slight to his observational skills.

"I'll just leave you two, then," Temari said awkwardly, stepping carefully out of the greenhouse to leave the two medics in private.

"Is something wrong?" she asked after an amount of time passed, not diverting her attention from crushing the Energy Ginseng.

Ryoukan ducked his head in embarrassment. "My apologies, Mito-sama, but I couldn't help but notice you were wearing a clan symbol that is not your own." He was, of course, referring to the Nara necklace Shikamaru had given her before she left, wrapped tightly around her throat, as her neck adorned with a rare kesshouseki that had been given to her great-grandmother, Suiren, the wife of Tobirama, by Senju Hashirama and Mito. Supposedly, it had the power to suppress the power of a Bijuu, but since Mito had pulled Shukaku's chakra out, she had had no need for such a skill, only wearing it out of habit.

Her fingers curled around the cold metal circle, a soft smile warming across her face. "Yes, it is the symbol of the Nara Clan in Konoha. The heir gave it to me before I left." She raised her eyes to look at the man opposite her, her lips curling into an amused grin at his slightly widened eyes; people always had a habit of thinking the worst. "No, we're not engaged." She handed him the mixture. "Here you are. Tell me, Ryoukan-san, do you have any seriously injured shinobi that I should be directing my attention to."

"Oh!" Ryoukan frowned thoughtfully, tapping his chin with his finger. "Well, a few shinobi ran into Uchiha Itachi a few weeks ago," he noticed how she winced, probably foreseeing how well that had ended, "and we haven't found a way to pull them out of the Genjutsu…"

"Something that should be remedied immediately," she said cutting him off rather suddenly. "Would you mind me the way, Ryoukan-san?"

"At once, Mito-sama."

So, Mito could be found minutes later hosting an impromptu lesson on reviving Genjutsu victims. The first to attempt it was a young woman named Kaede. Kaede was nervous, and it showed in how her green chakra wavered and the man beneath her hand didn't even stir since she'd placed her palm on his forehead. Senju Mito stood on the opposite side, her brow furrowed, watching the glow of her chakra, her sharp eyes taking in every detail, with her fingers wound around that clan symbol that she wore on her ear. Finally she sighed and signaled for Kaede to cease, giving all the medic-nins her full attention.

"Let us use this analogy," she said to the small group before her that listened very intently even though she was remarkably young, "when a Genjutsu is used on a person, it is as if clouds are placed over the person's eyes. What you are trying to do is smooth them away, to clear your patient's senses. The first thing you should know, is that Genjutsu disrupts to flow of chakra to the brain, knowing this, you cannot simply stop the flow of chakra, or the patient will be pronounced brain dead." She eyed them all. "Are you still with me?" At their nods, she continued, noticing that some were actually writing down what she was saying for future reference. "Now, being too gentle will not illicit a response, but doing too hard will cause them pain and might even damage the chakra network. How many of you have seen waves, like ocean waves?" Thankfully, all the medic-nins raised their hands. "Great! Your chakra should flow just like that, like you're slowly pulling the clouds away from their eyes; firm and constant." After several attempts, they succeeded and were soon sent about assisting the newly awakened shinobi.

No one noticed as Mito left, her hands reaching up to free her bright hair from its clipped bindings, letting the loose, thick waves spill out from the pins, her neck slightly cramped from just how tight her hair had been pulled back. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as her head twisted upwards catching the eyes of her twin brother. His jade eyes narrowed slightly, but then he vanished in a swirl of sand. Mito sighed softly, closing her eyes briefly, her mood becoming morose at the sight of her insane younger brother…what she wouldn't give for some sake right now…

"You look more like your mother than I anticipated."

Mito jumped, turning swiftly on her heel at the voice to find herself face-to-face with the Yondaime Kazekage. He looked different, more life-like, when he wasn't wearing his Kazekage garb. It was hard to tell which of his sons looked more like him, with that auburn hair of his, though Gaara and Mito's red hair had clearly come from the Senju side of the family (as Tobirama had proved he had similar taste in women to his brother, marrying a red head). Mito decided it had to be Kankurou –why else would he go through the trouble of painting his face to cover up the likeness if there was none?

"Sorry?" she said once her tongue had started working again. "What do you mean by that?" She wasn't clueless, of course, the main reason she had been given to Hyuuga Kouga to care for was because her father couldn't stand even looking at her because she so greatly resembled his late wife. She was practically a red-haired double. She was immediately suspicious, because just a few days previously he hadn't shown any desire to make small talk, and now he was actively seeking her out?

His dark eyes held none of the warmth that Shikaku's often had before he'd ruffle her hair, laughing as she attempted to straighten the mess. Shikaku had the eyes of a father, the Kazekage did not.

"Your mother, Karura," he said, "you're very much like her."

Her violet eyes widened slightly. Coming from him, it was almost a compliment. But his compliments were toys with sharp edges; it wasn't until you'd played with them a while that you realized how painful they were.

"Excuse me," she said stiffly, making an effort to control her temper (she mentally congratulated herself on how well she was doing), "but I have somewhere to be." When he looked like he wanted to say something, she turned, strolling past him, her hair flowing in the wind like a crimson ribbon as she disappeared into the wind and sand.

Once she had vanished from his view, he heaved a heavy sigh, raking a hand through her loose hair, grabbing a clump and lifting it to her eyes. Kaa-chan had told her how ironic it was that she looked more like Tsunade's obaa-san than Mito's own sousobo (great-grandmother), to whom Mito was only related to by marriage, taking after her namesake.

"A-Ano," a small voice stuttered, causing Mito's hand to drop as she turned to face a young girl. She'd been keeping an eye on the Senju heir for a few days. Mito would've suspected foul play, if not for the book on Medical Ninjutsu she had often seen in her hands. She was small, smaller than Mito, and probably younger too, with short, spiky brown hair and almond shaped obsidian eyes. Her type of dress was that of someone who was clearly not enlisted in the regular forces, judging by the yellow scarf around her neck, the blue shirt hanging off her shoulder, black skirt, and thigh length stockings. She was also very nervous, reminding Mito distinctly of Hinata. "Senju-sama?"

"Just Mito," she corrected automatically, "can I help you?"

The girl jumped a bit at being spoken to so directly. She bit her lip and leaned over, bowing lowly. "Please teach me!"

Mito stared at her dumbfounded. "Teach you?" she asked blankly. "Medical Ninjutsu, you mean?"

The girl lifted her head and nodded fervently, her eyes bright with yearning. "Please!"

For a moment Mito didn't speak, before she finally glanced over her. "What's your name?"

"Matsuri, Mito-sama!"

"Matsuri," she began again, "very few shinobi ever become medic-nins, even less are singularly gifted in the art. I, myself, am becoming more well-known for my Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, as well as my Medical Ninjutsu. A medic-nin has to have exceptional chakra control, do you have such a gift?"

"Ano, I don't know," Matsuri admitted shyly.

"Hold out your hands, palm down."

Matsuri did as instructed, watching as the slightly older girl's hands glowed green with chakra as she placed them on her own. The chakra felt warm and soothing.

Mito frowned, thinking of the prophecy the Great Lord Elder (like all summoning animals had) had given her years ago. _"You will have four great apprentices, ones skilled in the art of healing, and with you, they will become renowned for their skills."_ Her chakra was as fine-tuned as Ino's, though not as much as Hinata's when she first started out. Two apprentices had already been taught, though their training was not yet done, now only two spots remained.

"Your chakra control is impressive for one your age," she said finally, pulling her hands away and surveying her face, "but know this," she said, her voice dropping, the tone so serious that Matsuri gulped, "I only train those who I believe have true potential. I have only had two apprentices to date, and both are due to inherit Clan Leadership in a decade or so when their father's step down, and I fully anticipate them to become Chuunin within a year of becoming Genin," Hinata would become heiress, if she played her cards right. "If you were to train under me that would mean leaving this village when I do and going wherever I go, and that includes returning to Konoha for the next few months to a year."

"I know," Matsuri said tiredly. There was nothing to keep her here; her parents were dead. "But when I finish training, I can come back, right?" It was her dream to be a kunoichi of Suna.

Mito smiled. "You can. If, and only if, I take you on."

Matsuri nodded again.

Mito couldn't help it; she laughed. It was a light, airy laugh. "Ah, too late," she grumbled to herself. "I already like her."

Matsuri positively beamed, following Mito's example as she sat down into the coarse grains of sand.

"I guess we should start with introductions," Mito began, "my name is Senju Mito, my favorite things to do are train, experiment, and watch the clouds with my boyfriend, I like to use nature-based Ninjutsu, and my dream is to be the greatest medic-nin since Kaa-chan. Your turn."

"Oh! Um…" An embarrassed flush lit her cheeks. "My name is Matsuri…my favorite things to do are read about Medical Ninjutsu and Poisons, and my dream is to be the greatest Poison-maker and medic-nin in Suna."

"Steep goal," Mito admitted with a grin, "I hope you intend to work hard for it."

"H-Hai!"

"Good, now tell me the four rules of medic-nins."

Matsuri thought hard for a moment, trying to recall the four clauses that medic-nins lived by. "No medic-nin shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end…no medic-nin shall ever stand on the front lines…no medic-nin shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon…and only those medic-nins who have mastered the Strength of a Hundred Technique of the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth are permitted to discard the above-mentioned laws."

"That is correct," Mito agreed. "However, I disagree."

Matsuri blinked in surprise. It wasn't every day that you heard a daughter not agreeing with her mother, especially when her mother was the Slug Princess, Tsunade. "Why?" she questioned.

The red-head rolled her shoulders. "Honestly? Because some medic-nins aren't made to be coddled and protected when they can be out kicking ass…that's one of the reasons why I am listed as medic-nin as my primary and combat-nin as a secondary in the shinobi corps back in Konoha." She winked. "I have an explosive personality, apparently."

Matsuri wasn't sure what the safe response to that was, so she opted for silence as Mito continued to explain some different aspects of Medical Ninjutsu.

* * *

"I'm requesting permission to take Matsuri a little ways out into the desert. I'd prefer to teach her evasion in an area where I won't destroy any buildings."

The Kazekage could barely meet her eyes, as they burned with the sort of determination that was ever present in his Karura's. "If I were to allow you such a thing, you would have to be monitored by a shinobi of my choosing-"

"That's fine, Kazekage-sama," Mito said, waving her hand airily, "its not like I'm going to be pumping her for village secrets."

"If that's so, then we shall volunteer."

Father and daughter stared, for the two who now stood in the doorway were a rather famous pair of retired councilors that Mito was sure Kouga-san had mentioned several times. Ebizou-sama and his sister, Chiyo-sama, the master of puppets (Kankurou had begged her to teach him when he was younger, but she had just laughed at him) and of poison, the grandmother of her Shishou.

Chiyo smirked slightly at the red-head. "After all, who better to observe that slug-girl Tsunade's daughter, than the grandmother of her teacher."

Mito's eyes betrayed her surprise; very few were privy to that knowledge.

Answering Mito's unasked question, Chiyo pointed to the purple ring on her thumb with the kanji for jewel (gyoku). "That is the ring my grandson bears as a member of the Akatsuki." Mito could resist fingering the ring as she said that, somehow finding herself in the middle of the desert with Matsuri and two old coots not much later.

"Now, Matsuri," Mito began, running a hand through her hair, doing her best to ignore the bystanders, "do you know what the role of the medic-nin is?"

"To provide medical support to their teammates?" Matsuri hazarded a guess.

Mito nodded. "That is correct. But a medic-nin's combat skills are secondary to their Ninjutsu prowess, do you know why?"

The brunette furrowed her brow, deep in thought, before finally shaking her head in defeat.

"A medic-nin must have superior abilities in evasion, so as not to become injured and thus become a liability to their squad," Mito responded calmly.

"You'll find a great deal of medic-nins are like this," Mito explained to Matsuri, "but there are some like me and my apprentices who can split their focus."

"Split their focus?" Matsuri repeated in confusion.

Mito sighed, seeing that she had lost her, motioning for both to sit down on the dune with her. "We'll be getting more into chakra nature manipulation in the next few months," she said, "but this'll be easier to understand if I explain it properly… let me use Hinata and Ino as examples. Ino splits her time between learning her family's Hiden techniques with her Medical Ninjutsu training, while Hinata splits her time between learning her family's Taijutsu style, Juuken, and Medical Ninjutsu. Ino is farther along than Hinata due to the duties placed on Hinata."

"What about you, Shishou?" Matsuri asked inquisitively, drinking in all the information like a sponge.

"In the past few years my focus has been on chakra nature techniques. Water and fire are my primary."

Chiyo's eyebrows rose an inch. She must have put a lot of time and effort to have techniques in two of the five elemental releases; most Jounin didn't even bother learning elemental-style jutsu. That was a kind of diligence and determination she could admire.

"Back to you, Matsuri," Mito said, redirecting the attention placed on her, "I expect you to be more than just any other medic-nin. I expect you to be one of the best, and I will accept no less than the best from you, understand?" It was a lot of pressure to put on the girl, but if Jiraiya-oji was right, they only had about a year or so to prepare.

"Y-yes!" Matsuri agreed, albeit nervously.

Mito smirked in a dangerous way that had always sent a shiver down the spines of her friends. "Good. The first thing you must learn, is evasion, as I explained before. First, I'm going to attack you without my Taijutsu, with you can manage to evade those, you will 'graduate' to dodging my enhanced attacks. This training is the most serious you will ever experience, are you ready?"

"Yes, Shishou!"

Mito had her stand, feet separated from each other as if fighting in a one-on-one duel. "Begin!" Mito watched, carefully taking in how Matsuri moved, it reminded her a bit of Hinata and Ino before they'd focused a great deal on their Taijutsu. Hinata's main problem with her Juuken was that she hadn't put forth enough effort or time to work with the style, thus leading her to be considered weak by the clan, while Ino hadn't really done much training outside of the academy. Matsuri had a very slight fear of weapons –probably because of how her parents were killed- and that was probably why she was dodging Mito's strikes with her senbon so well.

"That's enough!" Mito called, calling a stop to their match. Then, Mito turned on Matsuri, cracking her knuckles in a menacing fashion. "Alright Matsuri, the only way this is going to work is if I come at you full force. There are only two rules. One: You will not close your eyes, and two: you will not be hit. Ready?"

Her apprentice's legs tensed. "Yes, Shishou!"

Mito smirked. The subsequent beating was something Matsuri would recall with shivers, even after years had passed and she was nearly on equal grounds with her former teacher, because you never quite forget your first experience of hell.


	3. Changes

The room was empty, but Mito had expected it to be. It was an apartment that had been uninhabited for at least six years, now. It was mostly bare, void of most material or personal possessions. She steeled her nerves, for her heart was beating rather rapidly against her chest, and took one very small step inside. The scent was stale and the accumulation of dust made her nose twitch. The first thing her attention was drawn to was the ancient wooden carving of the Yin and Yang symbol, the heirloom of the Head family of the Hyuuga Clan. The one that the Hyuuga Clan claimed to have lost.

She lifted it from the dresser it sat upon, her fingers gentle on the rough wooden surface, cradling in her hands as if it was the most delicate thing in the world. She remembered how small her hands had been when she'd last held it, the night before she'd left. Kouga-san had been ill and she'd stayed by his side all day, her only comfort being the feel of his aged, knotted hands on hers. She remembered a world of darkness when he had been her guiding hand…it seemed like only yesterday when he had her out in a training field with him, stumbling through the katas of the Juuken. But that time had long since passed and Mito was no longer the blind, anger-driven child she had been before.

She blinked with a small degree of surprise when she found herself kneeling beside the bed as if she was seeking some kind of solace from the emptiness her caretaker had left behind, but there was nothing, nothing that remained of her once great teacher.

For the first time in what felt like a very long time, Mito wept for the events of the past. She climbed into the bed and curled up into a ball, willing away her sorrows, feeling very much as though she was five again and she had climbed into bed with Kouga-san after a horrible nightmare. But he was gone and all that remained were his menial possessions and they gave her no solace from her sadness and pain.

_The sand burned her feet, still hot from the heat of the day, even as it had long since passed into night. Her small fingers clutched her profusely bleeding shoulder as she stumbled forward into the desert, her eyes half closed with exhaustion before her knees finally gave out and she fell face first into the sand. Her awareness faded, even as she heard his velvety soft voice. It was sickly sweet, but dangerous all the same, like poison._

" _Well, well, what do we have here?"_

Her eyes shot open.

It must have been hours later when she finally moved once more, and her whole body felt as though it was weighed down with lead. She pulled herself into an upright position, her eyes still blank, as if she wasn't exactly aware of what was going on. She rubbed them until the skin around her eyes became raw, pulling on her shoes and shoving her hands deep into her pockets. Her back straightened into that automatic casual stance that she had gained after so many years with the Nara Clan, not quite like the posture her boyfriend had adopted –a lazy slouch- but more…her.

She slid the door open quietly, looking down and blinking in surprise at the figure that lay there. Matsuri had followed her it seemed, and had fallen asleep waiting for her to leave the room. A soft smile brushed her lips, one that was rarely seen out of the company of one Nara Shikamaru. She knelt down beside the girl, locking the brunette's arms around her neck from behind and lifting her legs so she could move her apprentice with ease.

A slow sigh escaped her lips as she trudged down the empty apartment stairs to walk through the silent streets. Ever since that fateful night, a silent consensus had been reached that no one would be out after hours so as not to irritate Gaara. Her plum-colored gaze shifted upwards to where she could see Gaara's faint outline against the pallor of the moon. She sighed again, internally blaming herself for how badly he'd turned out, and he'd been such a sweet kid, she thought morosely, trudging through the streets with a silence that only one who had been in ANBU could have.

* * *

"I'm sorry."

The words were spoken so bluntly Kankurou thought he must have misheard her, but she had said them, that was for sure, if the morose expression on her face was anything to go by.

"Sorry 'bout what, Mito?" he asked, replacing his tools on the desk to give her his full attention, even though her focus was on the puppets that hung from the ceiling. She seemed as utterly fascinated by the **Kugutsu no Jutsu (Puppet Technique)** as she had been before her disappearance. He remembered when she used to follow him around trying to use the chakra strings that he did, only succeeding at a basic level. She hadn't really mentioned anything about it, but Kankurou had found some research she had haphazardly scrawled down into an open scroll in her hotel room using the idea of chakra threads as a way for medic-nins to remove their injured comrades from harm. It was a curious endeavor, but it was little more than speculation as she had never had the opportunity to test it out.

Her fingers traced the red scorpion that had been painted onto every puppet Akasuna no Sasori had made…he was always talented in that aspect of his life. "I haven't been around that much…I've just…had a lot to do," she finished lamely, feeling incredibly guilty. The hospital work and her training with Matsuri had taken up a great deal of her time, so she barely saw her siblings who were often called away on missions, only seeing them for the occasional dinner out. She felt ashamed that she hadn't reconnected more with her siblings, but Mito was very busy.

"We get it," Kankurou assured her, though it had been annoying that the amount of work she had to do prevented her from hanging out with them more; he suspected his father was behind the excessive workload. "Medic-nins are really busy."

"That's putting it mildly," Mito muttered under her breath, almost missing his next words which caught her completely off guard.

"Why don't you just stay?"

She whirled around to look him in the face, an expression of shock on her face at his question before it fell to chagrin. She didn't even notice Temari where she had come to inform Kankurou of a new mission, standing in the doorway, curious of the answer.

Mtio's purple eyes grew distant, her fingers curling into a shaking fist before unfurling just as fast. "I was on an A-rank mission in Kusa," she said after a very long moment, tapping her finger against her side. "It was a botched mission from the start because, for one, I was alone, and two I was assigned to eliminate an S-rank Iwa nin who was hiding in Kusa." She absentmindedly brushed her hand against the misshapen dark pink oval scar under her collarbone. She sighed, raking a hand through her hair, wrinkling her nose as she turned away from her brother to lean her elbows onto the window, gazing onto into the sandy surf. "I was outclassed and outmatched in every way, and I got really mad." She ducked her head shamefully. "I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I overestimated my control…and then I used red chakra."

Kankurou made a strangled sound in the back of his throat, shifting his chair slightly. Red chakra was the type of chakra a Jinchuuriki oozed when they lost whatever amount of control they had. Kankurou had only seen Gaara use it one, and it had been terrifying.

"When I got back to the village, my…screw-up had been revealed to the entire village and I was on the same level as Naruto." This thought didn't seem to annoy her too badly, Temari noted.

"What does that have to do with staying here or there?" Kankurou asked.

"Because," she heaved a heavy sigh, "it's the place Tobirama-ojii and Hashirama-ojii made their home." She gave the pair a sheepish smile. "My soul has found a place in the leaves, and my heart, the shadow."

Temari wasn't the only one who frowned at that comment, not quite understanding what that poetic phrase, and somewhere in Konoha a spiky-haired boy sneezed rather violently, startling his father.

* * *

After she had completed her exercises Matsuri was hesitant to interrupt her Shishou, even if she had grown used to the red-haired kunoichi's personality. One reason why was because she was twirling one of her tri-pronged kunai in her hands in a very elaborate way that one might compare it to a dance or an art form. Another was that she had an intense look of concentration that told her whatever she was thinking about was very important, at least to her. She only began to move forward when Mito had opened her eyes and had caught the kunai, though she still looked deep in thought.

"Matsuri," she called out, enticing the brunette to speed up until she came next to the girl. After Mito had fought and won against her siblings using only her prowess in Taijutsu she had earned Matsuri's permanent respect, because Kankurou-sama and Temari-sama were two of the most gifted shinobi in Suna. "Matsuri, I'm going to start teaching you Tanuki Style."

"Tanuki Style?" she asked in confusion. "Is that like Juuken or Goken?" Mito had caught her the basics of Juuken, a style that she herself had learned from a man that had died some years ago, Hyuuga Kouga. Matsuri didn't know much about him other than he had been Mito's primary caregiver when she had resided in Suna.

"It's a combination," she admitted. "It deals with the fluidity of the movement of Juuken, but also with the external attacks of Goken…take up stance one."

Matsuri did as was requested.

"Now perform the movement to fall into stance two."

She swung her right leg forward, leaning her weight onto the leg as she readied herself to lean forward when Mito's hand flew out in front of her face to stall her movement.

"This time what you are going to do is throw your weight onto your right leg and instead of having your palm open, its going to be in a fist…eventually it will look like this." Mito demonstrated the two stances in the style, showing how the movement flowed properly. Matsuri had only seen it performed twice, when she had fought against her siblings –and subsequently outclassed them-, and it was quite memorable; it held the same fluidity as the Hyuuga style, Juuken, but was also steadfast and fortified like the Goken, it seemed to embody the two elements water and earth.

"Shishou," Matsuri began, calling Mito 'master' as she had done ever since the red-haired girl had taken her on as an apprentice, "how long did it take you to perfect this style?"

"About as long as the Yondaime Hokage took to create the Rasengan," Mito answered with practiced ease, waving her hand carelessly through the air. At Matsuri's clueless expression, Mito sighed and elaborated. "Three years."

Her apprentice's eyes widened comically as she goggled at the medic-nin in disbelief at the sheer amount of time that she put into developing the Taijutsu style.

"Incorporating Goken into Juuken took a great deal more effort than I anticipated," Mito admitted as an afterthought, almost to herself. The clouds parted from her eyes in an instant. "Oh, shit!" she swore. "We're late for lunch with Temari and Kankurou!"

Matsuri couldn't help but feel slightly amused that her sensei for all her skills was as forgetful as anyone she'd ever met.

…

"Why do you wear that? Isn't it too big for you?"

Kankurou and Temari had decided to treat Mito and her new apprentice Matsuri to lunch on the break of her second to last day. She'd been acting quiet a lot, but now they realized it was simply because she had nothing to say, and that she did a lot of thinking. When they questioned her about it, she laughed it off, claiming the Naras rubbed off on her.

Kankurou's question had caught Mito by surprise, and she looked down at herself, viewing her training wear. Technically speaking, the short dress she was wearing was actually a shirt, a turtleneck, but it had been altered for her by Yoshino-san. It was black, baggy, loose, and a bit threadbare. She had bunched up the sleeves around her elbows, and the hem barely fell to her mid-thigh, pulling upwards slightly from being stretched so much. It was simple, having no other pattern but the wave-like Nara symbol sewn into the back, between her shoulder blades. Suiren's amulet lay below the neckline, the red gem shining in the sunlight, and beneath the hem she wore tight mesh shorts.

Mito arched an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with my outfit?"

"Well, no…" Kankurou admitted. Maybe he was uncomfortable with the amount of leg she was showing. Hypocrite.

She rolled her eyes to her companion; Matsuri giggled. "Then there is no problem."

Temari smirked at her brother, spooning kenchin soup into her mouth. "You just got played."

Kankurou grumbled in annoyance. There was a moment of silence while they all ate their food, only to be broken by Mito, speaking bluntly. "Gaara came to see me last night."

The effect was instantaneous. Matsuri squeaked, Kankurou choked on his hamburger steak, and Temari slopped half her soup into the sand.

Mito continued as if none of these reactions had occurred. "He did not speak a word to me, but the change is clear for me to see." Her voice had become slightly bitter. "I see Yashamaru did a number on him." Mito's disappearance had been worked out between her, Kouga-san, and Yashamaru, in which Yashamaru had anticipated his death, thus giving Mito the freedom she had always desired. "We stayed up and watched the full moon and he gave me this." She slid a small ring off her finger, and all could see it was made completely of sand. "But I'm not stupid, I can sense the receptor chakra he laced the sand with."

"So you're not going to wear it?" Temari guessed.

"Of course I'm going to wear it," she disagreed vehemently. "Don't be ridiculous!"

Kankurou wrinkled his brow, before shaking his head and sighing. "I'll never understand girls…"

"So," Temari continued after that conversation had been concluded, "tell us about your boyfriend." She smothered her giggles at the glare Kankurou was now sporting. "Like, how did you meet?"

"Well he's a great shogi partner," she said with a grudging laugh, "that's actually how we first met, over shogi. Shikaku-sensei –though he wasn't my sensei at the time-, his father, had brought me to Konoha's Hospital because of some minor injuries I'd received on the way to the village. His father had encouraged him to keep an eye on me, and so, when I woke up he taught me how to play shogi."

_Mito's dull purple eyes gazed directly ahead, unseeing, as Shikamaru's fingers gently guided her own, his hand placed over hers. "Alright," the eight year old said in a drawling voice similar to his father's, "there are two lances, one for each corner," he moved her hands so that her fingers could brush against the kanji, even though she couldn't read it –it was too blurry-, "then there are the two knights, the silver generals, the gold generals, and the king," he said moving her hand gradually over the board. Then he moved to the second line, the second place of each side, he tapped her left hand, "this is for the bishop," he tapped her right hand, "and this is for the rook, and the whole third row is for pawns-"_

"Shogi?" Kankurou asked in surprise. "I didn't know you liked shogi. You never had the patience for it before."

Mito rolled her eyes at her older brother. "Nii-san, I didn't have much patience for a lot of things back then. But continuing on… He kept coming back, day after day to play shogi, and, once I could walk around without getting yelled at, cloud-gazing. I got the feeling that his dad beat him a lot in shogi, but I never could, and I didn't mind a good game when there was nothing to do. Smart and lazy was a combination I'd never seen before," she mused aloud, "it was interesting, to say the least…well, I guess that was to be expected of the son of the Jounin Commander."

Temari's jaw unhinged. "You were trained by the Head Ninja?"

Mito winced slightly, recalling the story of the rift between the Main and Branch families of the Hyuuga Clan, of how Hinata's father had the killed the Head Ninja of Kumogakure and his brother had had to pay for it. "Not quite. Konoha has no Head Ninja, only a Jounin Commander, a Head Ninja is a rank that's separate from Jounin. The Jounin Commander is one of the most important shinobi of the village, they're in charge of all the Jounin and represent them as a member of the council," Mito explained, tilting her head to the side. "I'd believe, without a doubt, that my sensei is the smartest person in the Land of Fire."

She smiled slightly recalling a scene a few days after she and her sensei's son had met, back when she had still been rendered blind.

" _Are you seriously partially blind?"_

_Mito opened one closed eye to gaze at her companion, or his general direction, her lips twitching slightly. "Is that so surprising?"_

" _Hai," he said honestly._

_A laugh erupted from her lips where she was laying in the shade of an oak tree just outside the Konoha General Hospital. She'd only been in Konoha about a week, and her wounds had healed days ago, but they still insisted on keeping her, using her bruised limbs and blindness as an excuse. Mito thought it was for a sort of background check before admitting her into the ranks, but that was before the doctors found out she could utilize Medical Ninjutsu, and then she was randomly suggested to work on patients. Without pay. She crossed her arms behind her head, arching her back into the grass as she stretched. "I think I'm beginning to like you, Shikamaru-kun," she decided, rolling over slightly to look at his fuzzy appearance._

" _Is that a bad thing?" Shikamaru countered easily with no hint of being embarrassed. He was lying beside her, only on his stomach, pulling up grass with his fingers._

" _That would depend," Mito mumbled, "on a number of factors…but yes, I'm a bit blind."_

" _Only a bit?" He asked, his tone humorous._

_Mito smirked, slumping back into her stretch of grass. "It'll be a few weeks more before I can see perfectly well, if that's what you're asking."_

_Shikamaru turned slightly towards her. "And you don't mind?" He asked, openly curious._

_A frown formed on Mito's lips. "I did at first, but being blind has really opened my eyes. Shinobi are a bit overly dependent on their eyes, if you get my meaning." She laughed suddenly, giving him a grin. "Honestly, I think it made me a better shinobi."_

_An amused half-smile was all she received from her friend. "You're too easy-going to be a kunoichi."_

" _Hm?" She asked in confusion. "Not too 'troublesome' for you then?"_

" _You're still troublesome, woman."_

_She laughed again, her smile lighting up her face. He didn't see her do that a lot. "Trust me. This," She gestured at herself, "is a work in progress. If you'd met me –what- two years ago, the result of this conversation would be quite different."_

" _Bloody, you mean?" Shikamaru suggested, his lazy eyes watching her._

" _Quite," she said dryly. "Oh, I've come so far!"_

" _Hey, Shikamaru!"_

_Shikamaru twisted slightly in the direction his name was being called from to see Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino heading his way._

" _Friends of yours?" Mito guessed, her eyebrows raising slightly over her closed eyelids._

" _One of them," Shikamaru admitted as he rolled over and sat up, yawning widely, "the other one's just…"_

" _Troublesome?" she guessed with a smirk as the pair approached. It was only then that he noticed Chouji was cradling his wrist in his hand._

" _Ne? Chouji, what happened?" Shikamaru asked, concern leaking into his voice for his old friend._

" _A bunch a' idiots jumped him 'cause he's an Akimichi," Ino huffed angrily, but Shikamaru wasn't sure if it was towards the bullies or having to walk Chouji to the hospital._

" _So, why aren't you going in?" he asked in confusion now._

_Ino's pale skin lightened slightly. "You mean you haven't heard? There's a rumor going around town about a red-haired demon that stalks patients that enter the hospital!"_

_Mito sat up so suddenly it was like she was on recoil, her blind eyes twitching in irritation. "On the other hand, maybe a little spilled blood would be good for this quaint little village…"_

_Shikamaru's hand lashed out to grip her wrist, forcing her to remain sitting as he sighed a 'mendoukuse'. "Calm down, Firecracker."_

_A healthy flush rose in her cheeks. "Baka Shikamaru-kun!"_

" _Ittai!"_

_Mito had planted her fist on the top of Shikamaru's head and was now with her arms crossed gazing firmly in the opposite direction, anywhere but at him, while Shikamaru rubbed the bump on his head._

" _So you're the reason Shikamaru's been disappearing after class ends," Chouji guessed, his voice ringing slightly with awe._

" _Ano, hai," Mito agreed, running a hand through her vibrant locks, her previous embarrassment forgotten, allowing the pair to get a good look at her. Her crimson hair had a short and spiky quality, falling just above her shoulders in a mismatched sort of way, with her side bangs only slightly longer, falling into her dulled purple eyes which were surrounded by faint dark lines._

" _Yikes," Ino winced, "when was the last time you got some sleep?"_

_Mito blinked, her eyes narrowing as her brow furrowed in confusion._

_Shikamaru muttered something that sounded an awful like 'troublesome woman' under his breath. "Ino, her eyes look like that naturally."_

" _Oh," she said lamely. "Sorry."_

_Mito shrugged. "Occupational hazard." But she didn't elaborate on what she meant. "Want me to take a look at your injury?"_

" _Ano…" Chouji looked embarrassed, his eyes shifting towards the hospital._

" _Don't worry," Mito said with a careless wave of her hand, "I only threatened those patients because they were clearly healthy and wasting precious resources just so they could flirt with some nurses. I'm a medic-nin."_

" _Oh…"_

_Chouji couldn't really do anything to stop her as she gently took his bruised hand in hers, a beautiful green chakra enveloping her hands._

" _Sugio (Amazing)!" Ino breathed as she watched Mito's work on Chouji's hand, the purpling bruise slowly lighten with color. "I've never seen chakra like that before!"_

" _Green is the color of healing jutsu," Mito explained with an easy grin._

" _There," Mito said, her chakra fading as she removed her hands from Chouji's, "that should do it. Your wrist will be a little stiff, but that should pass in a matter of hours."_

_Chouji stuttered a thank you, but Mito waved it off. "Don't mention it, and don't let those boys get to you, not everyone is meant to be thin, besides, once you start intense training it'll turn to muscle."_

_Chouji frowned slightly. "How can you be sure?"_

" _Shikamaru-kun says you're Chouji from the Akimichi Clan, right?" She asked, jabbing her thumb in the direction of said lazy-ass. "And the techniques Akimichis use a large amount of chakra, so you'll need to eat a lot to replenish your chakra reserves."_

" _You never told us your name," Ino pointed out after that little chakra lesson._

_An inquisitive look was thrown her way. "You never told me yours."_

_Ino grinned. "Yamanaka Ino."_

_Mito inclined her head slightly. "It's a pleasure. I'm Mito."_

_Ino opened her mouth to ask her family name, but a nurse ran out. "Senju-sama!" she called over to where Mito was. "We need an extra pair of hands!"_

" _Coming!" Mito called back, hoisting herself into a standing position. "Sorry, duty calls. I've got limbs to amputate, flirts to kick out, and herbs to catalogue. See you later, Shikamaru-kun, Chouji, Ino."_

_And then she disappeared into the hospital._

" _I like her," Ino decided. "Think she'll teach me that green chakra thing?"_

_Shikamaru flumped back onto the grass with a groan. "Why me?"_

She grinned at her siblings who couldn't help but feel as if they missed something.

* * *

It was before dawn when Mito found herself saying a prayer to the gravestone that bore the name Hyuuga Kouga. It was simple, just the way he would have liked it; Mito couldn't help a sad smile as she thought about her caretaker.

"I checked the hospital records," she informed the tombstone as if it cared about what she had to say, "you died a few days after I left…that's why you were rushing me so much to get out of Suna, it wasn't just for my freedom, it was so I didn't have to see you die..." Mito wiped the tears that had sprung in her eyes. "Kouga-san, you set the foundations for who I am today, the only reason I've lasted this long is because of you… I'm heading out soon, but I'd thought you'd want to know that you have three beautiful grandchildren; two that have the potential to be great medic-nins, like their mother, and one that has a few kinks, but I'm confident those will smooth over in a few years, and even he's got limitless potential, as expected of the Hyuuga Clan. I guess, this is good bye… wish me luck on my training…"

As she left the graveyard behind, she could swear that she could hear his deep, chuckling voice offering her well wishes.

The mornings were always silent in Suna, silent and ominous. She did not like mornings, but it mattered little, for in a matter of minutes to hours she would be gone and Matsuri along with her. The one thing she did regret was leaving her siblings behind, because for all that had happened, she still loved them very dearly, even Gaara. At the same time, though, being in that village with them caused her more pain than she wanted to admit.


	4. Chanced Meetings

Matsuri was pretty much in complete awe of the world around her, even though they'd been traveling around for a good two months –leaving five more until Mito had to return to Konoha. In Suna there was nothing but wind and sand, as expected of a country in the Kaze no Kuni (Land of Wind), but out here there was flourishing wildlife, trees in every direction and a stream nearby. It was impressive, to say the least. Matsuri couldn't help the rush of affection that she felt for her sensei, for actually taking her on as an apprentice.

Mito gazed towards the setting sun, taking its position in the soon to be night sky into account. "We'll stop here for the night."

Matsuri nodded tiredly, her legs numb from walking so much. "Hai, Shishou." It was times like these that Mito was grateful that Matsuri wasn't like some of the kunoichi in Konoha who cared more about their appearance than their skills, or else, she was sure she would've heard something about how the journey had ruined her hair, or she was too sweaty. Mito remembered when Ino used to be like that, only people still believed she was because she was so good at deception. Mito had to give her credit for that.

"We'll work on a chakra exercise when you've rested," Mito continued, lowering her large scroll carefully into the soft grass, "this will help you with the **Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique)**."

Matsuri didn't dignify that with a response as her knees collapsed and she fell face-first into the grass, her exhaustion apparent as she breathed hard, shaking the grass blades near her mouth. Mito scratched her cheek in embarrassment, lifting her legs slightly, testing the weight. It hadn't seemed like she was going very fast, but then again, Mito wore a couple hundred pounds on her arms and legs, so she probably wouldn't have noticed. That reminded her, she should start Matsuri on weights soon…

Matsuri revived slightly when Mito coached her canteen of water into her hands, helping her lift it to her lips. The younger girl swallowed loudly, but then her sensei suddenly tensed, her hand reaching for the senbon strapped to her thigh, when a voice rang out.

"Mito-sama, fancy meeting you here."

Mito's fingers relaxed, but Matsuri slopped half the water down herself. An easy smile broke across her sensei's face. "Nara Ensui-san, fancy meeting you here."

The Nara gave her a slight inclination of his head as an indication of her status. He, like all Nara men, wore his dark hair in a high ponytail, but it wasn't as spiky as Shikaku-sensei or Shikamaru's. Mito's eyes dropped to the ninken that sat at his feet. Pakkun. So, someone had wanted her found.

"Yo."

Matsuri jumped and hid behind the red-head, clearly surprised that a dog could speak, but Mito merely raised an eyebrow, because she had, quite obviously, seen stranger occurrences. "Pakkun-san, aren't you usually with Kakashi-san?" She had never met the silver-haired Jounin, but he was quite well known for his tracking skills, as well as his prowess in elemental Ninjutsu.

"Normally," the ninja hound grunted in agreement, "but he's on a mission right now and the Hokage figured you'd likely speak more with a Nara."

Mito's eye twitched. "Oh, really?" she asked dryly, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly –typically a bad sign to those who knew her well- in such a way that Ensui had subconsciously taken a step back. "And why would that be?"

"Probably because you'll most likely be marrying the clan heir in a couple years."

Ensui would later gleefully report to his Clan Head of how Mito's cheeks turned as red as roses at the mention of marrying his son. "That's…we're not… he…," she spluttered incoherently, seemingly unable to form the adequate words to express how she felt.

"Allow me to speak frankly, Mito-sama," Ensui offered, stepping between the dog and the Senju heir so as to keep war from breaking out between the two. "Never before has Shikamaru-sama shown such a keen interest in a girl before, let alone voluntarily spend an extended amount of time with one. Generally Nara relationships are very passive-aggressive, but it appears he has taken a different approach. The whole clan has been placing bets on you two for years."

A mortified expression marred her face. "Bets?" she all but squeaked, completely horrified at the turn of events.

She looked like she was going to faint, so Ensui hurried on. "Hokage-sama has an S-rank for you, in Takigakure."

"Takigakure?" Mito couldn't hide her surprise. The village could be ruthless when it wanted to be, and they were particularly adverse to Jinchuuriki, even their own. She reached out to take the scroll, when she remembered the slim girl hiding behind her. "Matsuri, why don't I start you on your exercise?"

It wasn't really a question, and Matsuri could hear how low her sensei's voice had dropped; the only sign of how serious the conversation had turned. Her eyes flickered between the man who Mito clearly knew, and her sensei. "Hai, Shishou," she said, though her breaths were still slightly labored as she stumbled into a standing position.

Ensui's eyebrows climbed an inch at the title as the girl who would most likely –there was little doubt- become the Matriarch of the Nara Clan directed her apprentice to the base of the tree.

"You will be climbing this tree," Mito said, indicating the tree with her finger, "but without your hands."

Matsuri opened her mouth, clearly confused, when Mito continued. "You will be channeling your chakra to the soles of your feet, like so." Her hands formed the hitsuji symbol, her sandals glowing a faint blue as she placed one foot at the base, and slowing began to walk vertically up the bark, before kicking away and doing several consecutive acrobatics as she flipped to her feet on the ground. "Begin."

She had already turned away when Matsuri ran at the tree, turning her attention instead to the scroll still held in Ensui's hand. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she took it from his grip, swiping her blood across the seal and opening it.

 _Takigakure is your destination,_ it began. _Jiraiya has gotten word from his spy network that something will be happening in the country's outskirts. What sort of event, we cannot be sure. Your mission is to observe and gather information. Report back when the mission is complete. Burn this._

A mild Katon jutsu later and the scroll was a pile of ash. Her fingers reached up to palm the Nara symbol hanging from her ear, a motion that did not go unnoticed to Ensui. She suddenly faced him and winked. "Give Shikamaru-kun a kiss from me." The snicker that followed wasn't even covered up.

Ensui rolled her eyes as if to say he would never be caught dead kissing the Nara heir, something she seemed to enjoy, but he didn't have the confidence to say such a thing. "I'll tell him."

"Arigatou, Ensui-san," she said, gesturing to the pile of ash on the grass. "Tell Hokage-sama I'll make it a priority and will send a messenger once it's completed."

Ensui tipped his head slightly, giving her a last goodbye as he and his guide made back towards Konoha. Mito sat down hard when he left, leaning against her large scroll tiredly, smoothing a hand over a coppery eyebrow as her thoughts raced in her skull at a hundred miles a minute.

"Shishou?" Matsuri's concerned voice sounded from high above, peering down at her sensei from the underside of a tree branch. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, Matsuri," Mito assured her. "Come back down."

Giggling, the brunette descended the tree, bouncing to Mito's side. She mentally congratulated herself when Mito gave her a small smile, glad to have eased the concerned expression from her face. Mito's eyes took in her apprentice's clothes, how ratty and damaged they'd become. She reached out to tug on her sleeve. "Ah, we need to get you some new clothes…after this next exercise, I'm going to put weights on you. Do you know what they are?"

Matsuri frowned, her eyes wincing in thought. "Not really, only that you and Ino-senpai wear them, and that they make you really fast in your Taijutsu…"

Mito nodded seriously. "When you adjust to the weight they add, you pour more chakra into them to increase the amount. You do it gradually so your arms and legs can adjust. Ino and I use them because they're quite useful in the style that my mother utilizes; brute strength. She developed it to protect herself while healing wounded shinobi on the battlefield, you'd do well to learn it."

"Hai, Shishou," she breathed in excitement. "What's the next exercise?"

"Water walking," Mito informed her, leading her off further into the forest, weaving between trees and bushes until a small stream finally came into view. She smiled at the sight of the clear water. "This is perfect."

Mito turned back to Matsuri who was now gazing at the stream in apprehension.

She chuckled slightly. "No need to look so worried, Matsuri. You did very well on the Tree Climbing exercise," Mito assured her. "This is only slightly different."

Obsidian met violet and the tension slowly eased from Matsuri's shoulders. She was doing well, she advanced very quickly, despite her chakra control having been slightly shaky, but with these exercises she would improve, and she needed to improve, to show her sensei she was as serious as she had been two months ago. Resolution filled her up like an expanding balloon.

"Now, instead of channeling your chakra so that you stick to the surface, you will be consistently releasing your chakra to repel yourself from the water." Matsuri's jaw unhinged as her sensei lifted each foot to place it onto the surface of the water, as if it was as hard as ice, ripples spanning out around her with every step she took. "It is a bit difficult," she admitted in an afterthought, as, clearly, she had grown so used to utilizing this skill that she didn't have to really try hard to succeed, "because constant focus must be maintained, but…" Mito closed her eyes and grinned, dropping a hand to ruffle Matsuri's chocolate spikes, "I have complete confidence in you!"

Matsuri's dark eyes grew bright and a pleased flush colored her cheeks. "I won't let you down, Shishou!" she promised.

Mito merely grinned, returning to where she had left their things. She listened to the sounds of splashing water as she settled down for a nap, lulled to sleep almost instantly by the humid air.

* * *

Ino's chop sticks twirled the meat around on her plate, a distinctive frown bending her lips ever so slightly.

"I haven't seen you eat so little since you went on that diet," Inoichi noticed, his food half eaten, though it was more than Ino had eaten in the entire night.

Ino puffed up her cheeks slightly. "Do you think Mito's okay?" Her aquamarine eyes were filled with concern.

The captain of the Intelligence Division tapped her hand softly with two of his fingers. "Mito can take of herself, Ino, she's helped Shikaku out of more scrapes than I can count." Blue-green met identical eyes. "What's really bothering you, princess?"

"Hinata and I were volunteering in the hospital and some nurses were saying how things were actually getting done now that the 'demon-girl' was gone," Ino said sullenly.

Inoichi stopped eating to give her his full attention. He knew about the recent treatment Mito had been on the receiving end of, courtesy of the civilians, and he knew it was nothing she deserved.

"Mito told us to ignore it whenever she was around," Ino's voice had taken on a forlorn tone, "but how can she just ignore those cruel things people say about her? About Naruto?" His lips twitched slightly at how close she had gotten to the Jinchuuriki and her friends; one hardly saw any of them without each other.

Inoichi's tea scalded his throat. "Those two are incredibly resilient, Ino, it'll take more than a few insults to knock them down, besides Mito's smart and dangerous, a deadly combination; you don't want to piss her off…not that I've ever seen her pissed off."

Ino's lips twitched slightly. "People look at her," Ino said slowly, "and they see talent, but then there's those people who look at her and Naruto with the same eyes, like they're the plague."

"And that bothers you?" Inoichi asked, already knowing the answer.

Ino's eyes flashed dangerously. "Damn straight it does! She's my best friend! No one works as hard as she does, but they all complain when she's more advanced...no one ever complains about Sasuke, so why do they hate that about Mito?"

"Sometimes people are just very stupid," Inoichi informed her sagely, and Ino couldn't help but agree with her father on that aspect.

* * *

"Are those weights bothering you yet?"

Matsuri looked up from where she was counting the sheer number of medicinal herbs in Konoha that she could make out from her distance. "Oh," she said, surprise coloring her voice. "I hadn't even noticed."

A smirk twisted her lips. "Ready for an upgrade, then?"

"Hai, Shishou!" she said eagerly, though grunting as the weight was added to her limbs by a mere touch of her hands. She flexed her arms, kicking up her legs slightly as she walked. "Shishou, this is where you live, right?"

Purple eyes surveyed the country-side. "Not quite," she mused. "This is the country I hail from, but Konoha is my home. It's a simple city in this country."

"Where exactly are we going, Shishou?" Matsuri asked curiously. "That man said you had an S-rank mission in Takigakure…is that where we're going?"

Mito raised an eyebrow at her. "It's where I'm going, but you are going to be staying in an old safe house that belonged to my family…though I don't expect my business will take too long…ah, here we are!"

Matsuri was starting to worry about her sensei's sanity –there was nothing there!- when she pressed her hands into several quick hand seals too fast for Matsuri's eyes to follow, slamming her hand into the ground. For a moment nothing happened, and then the forest flickered, as if it was a mirage, before falling away slightly, revealing a worn path up the mountain. She grinned. "It seems I've still got it…off we go!"

Matsuri stared up the mountain. "This is yours?"

Mito grimaced. "Technically, it's Kaa-chan's," she wheedled, brightening slightly, "but she doesn't mind when I borrow her stuff, so come on!"

For some reason after traveling so long with Mito it had never dawned on Matsuri just how rich she was. This mountain was a prime example, as Matsuri gaped at her sensei from behind. The safe house itself wasn't very large, perhaps three houses facing each other in a 'u', but the amount of training area was quite unbelievable. Matsuri wondered if Mito had trained here as a child. Her eyes roved over her from behind; her build was rather slender, with only the slightest appearance of muscle, and she hadn't grown that much. Enemies might not think of her as much of a challenge with those soft features that she wore so proudly, but Matsuri had seen her Suiton jutsu in action as well as her Taijutsu and raw strength; sometimes her sensei could be terrifying.

"From this point you are on your own," Mito informed her, glancing out to the horizon, gauging the time of day from the position of the sun in the sky. "Hopefully my business won't take too long, but I want you to practice on some of the more deeply wounded dummies, alright?" When her mother had started the medical program, she had developed practice dummies that mimicked humans in how the injuries were in certain situations, they were always used when training new medic-nins, but those were few in number; Mito had trained the first in several years.

"Hai, Shishou!" Matsuri called as her sensei leapt into the trees and vanished, girl, scroll, and all.

When Mito's feet touched ground again she moved quickly to hide from any who were making their way to or from Takigakure, hiding high up on the branches of a tree, unable to be seen or sensed.

"Safe enough," she murmured, closing one eye, placing two fingers over it to keep it from opening. This technique was rather difficult and Mito had invented it, based off of a sand-based jutsu that her brother used, as she wasn't capable of using sand like he was.

She opened one palm, clenching it so that the moisture in the air condensed and solidified, swirling around in her hand to form an eyeball with a brown iris. She rarely used this technique, but it was particularly was good for espionage. "The optic nerve is connected," she murmured to herself as she squashed the eye sending particles of water in the direction of the subtle, but powerful chakra signature. The area where it originated was located in a structure completely hidden in stone. There were even seals in place to ensure that no one could enter but a select few. Mito smirked up in her tree. Too bad water wasn't considered human. The particles sifted along the side until she found a suitable crack large enough for her to move through, rematerializing as an eyeball behind a large stone block, peering cautiously around it.

Her breath caught at the massive statue that overlooked the area. It was a giant structure that was wrinkled and decayed, with nine closed eyes, and spikes protruding from its back. It had two hands outstretched, figures standing on all but one of the fingers; only two were in the flesh, the others were holograms. One of the eyes was almost completely open; Mito assumed that had something to do with the blue chakra pouring out of the beast's mouth, enveloping the figure of a young girl, from whom she could see red chakra escaping her lips and eyes. A Jinchuuriki. Mito's open eye narrowed slightly. It was highly likely that when the eye opened completely, she would die.

She had apparently thought too soon. The body fell with a loud crash and the holograms fizzed out, leaving only the two real ones. She recognized the first easily as Uchiha Itachi, a nuke-nin from Konoha, she had had dealings with him in the past. The other she knew only by name, Hoshigaki Kisame, a nuke-nin from Kiri, one who had plotted several assassinations as well as trying to overthrow its corrupt government. They were not people you wanted to catch you spying on them. She held her breath, even though she was miles away, quickly hiding her third eye behind the boulder until Kisame's echoing cruel laughter had disappeared along with the two chakra signatures.

Mito's hands formed the seals for the **Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique** ): hitsuji, I, ushi, inu, and mi. In less than a second she had switched places with her ball of water, and the first thing she did was inhale and listen hard for enemies, and when she found none, she raced to the girl's side. She bent her head to her chest, listening and not being surprised to find no heart beating in the thoracic cavity.

"Okay," she breathed to herself. "The body's still warm…that means I can still resuscitate." Mito pressed her fingers to the girl's chest, directly on the tenketsu points over her heart, jolting the heart as she forced her chakra into the girl's deteriorating chakra coils, reviving the chakra network only slightly, until the third time when it flared to life and she finally breathed in.

* * *

Matsuri's gaze drifted over to the futon where the slumbering girl slept. When Mito had brought her back looking like death had warmed over, the brunette hadn't known how to react, but Mito seemed to be a bit in shock herself, though Matsuri couldn't think why. The mystery girl had an exotic appearance, even more so than Mito. Her short spiky hair was the color of mint and her skin was a light brown. She was a kunoichi of Takigakure, Matsuri knew because she wore the hitai-ate on her arm, but other than that, she was a stranger.

A soft groan escaped her lips and her closed eyes scrunched up in a grimace, slowly blinking open to reveal shockingly orange pupil less irises.

When Fuu slowly awakened, the first thing she noticed was she was weaker than she'd ever felt and Choumei's presence had completely disappeared. His disappearance coupled with her memory loss as well as the pain made her quite frantic. She leaned forward suddenly, pain vibrating through her, almost making her sick, until a soft hand steadied her.

"Easy," the voice murmured, "don't overdo it."

Fuu blinked in surprise at the concern she could clearly hear in the girl's voice, turning to face the owner of the voice. She was young, maybe twelve, younger than Fuu. She did not recognize her.

"Who're you?" she rasped, her voice scratchy and dry.

The brunette handed her a cup of water, waiting as she drank it all in one gulp, refilled it and handed to back to her. "I'm Matsuri," she said helpfully, "I'm the apprentice of Senju Mito, she's the one that saved you."

"Saved me?" Fuu asked blankly. "Saved me from what?"

Matsuri shrugged carelessly. "Not sure, it was an S-ranked mission; I wasn't allowed to go. What's your name?"

"Fuu." Short and to the point.

"If you can stand, Fuu-san," Matsuri said, getting to her feet herself and holding out a hand, "she's outside in the stream off to the right."

Mito was not who Fuu expected. She was her age, probably, and she had thought she was an old woman. Mito had bright purple eyes, and she wore her red hair in buns on either side of her head with tag-like seals hanging from the decals. She had a very kind face and intelligent eyes, that was the second thing that she noticed. Her left arm was tattooed with magatama in a figure eight, much like prayer beads. She didn't take note of Fuu's presence until her fingers glowed with chakra, heating the water in the pan to a low boil, setting it beside her as she lifted her eyes to meet Fuu's orange ones.

She gave her the first genuine smile Fuu had seen in a long time. "Ah, good, you're awake." She motioned her forward. "I didn't get the chance to introduce myself before. I'm Senju Mito from Konoha, and your name is…?"

"Fuu," the mintette informed her.

"Let me see your burns," she offered. "How do they feel?"

Fuu hadn't really thought about the chakra burns across her chest, arms, and legs after the initial spasm of pain she'd had when she'd awoken. "They...burn."

Mito had the decency to look abashed. "My apologies, when I performed the resuscitation technique I had to overload your chakra coils with my own in order to spark your chakra network to life once more-"

"Why?"

Purple eyes blinked in surprise. "Why, what?" She asked.

"Why save me?" Fuu rasped, her voice raw with emotion. "No one in Taki ever cared about me, so why you, a complete stranger?"

Mito's eyes warmed and she gave the mint-haired girl a soft smile. "I am no stranger to loneliness, Fuu-san. Take my hand and you will see."

Cautiously, Fuu placed her fingers barely over Mito's spread palm. Nothing happened, but then she felt it, that pulsating energy that was so similar to what she had used to feel all the time when she hosted Choumei.

"The connection between a Bijuu and their Jinchuuriki is almost symbiotic," Mito said quietly. "Some hate each other, but some learn to live with their situation. But we all share the pain and solitude, Fuu-san, and that is why I saved you."

Fuu found that she could not speak, her heart clogging up her throat. Never had anyone ever cared about her so much to bring her back to life. "Thank you," she finally choked out throatily.

Mito shrugged. "It's kind of my job, now your arms please."

Fuu held out her darker skinned arms than Mito's, the red burns standing out against her flesh. Mito took one of her arms in her hands, inspecting the skin thoroughly.

"What did you mean by it's your job?"

Mito's eyes met hers. "I'm a medic-nin from Konoha. I'm going to press down on the burn and I want you to tell me how the pain is, one to ten."

"Alright," Fuu grimaced as she poked the wound gently. "Um...three...one...five...six...ow! Ten!"

"You have some minor nerve damage," Mito told her, dipping a rag into the hot water. "This will sting," she warned, "but I need to disinfect the wound."

Fuu nodded, wincing hard as the water made contact with her skin. The rag only left her skin after a good thirty seconds had passed, replaced by a glowing green hand. The chakra was soothing to her burns and she sighed.

"If you want," Mito continued lightly, tying a bandage around her forearm and moving to the next injured arm, "once you heal, you can stay here and I can teach you Medical Ninjutsu, but only if you want to."

"Medical Ninjutsu?" Fuu hissed through clenched teeth, doing her best to ignore the pain, but failing.

Mito gave her a kind smile. "I get the feeling that you will have an aptitude for it."

No one had ever thought Fuu could make anything out of herself, not in Taki at least. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"Matsuri will be returning to Suna in a year or so," Mito added, "but she'll be returning with me to Konoha to finish her training, you could come as well, you'd probably get better treatment there than Taki."

"I…thank you."

Mito's answering smile was all she needed to bury Fuu of Taki in the past, and she would one day be known as Reiki no Fuu, Fuu of the Healing Touch.

* * *

"Want to talk about it?"

Mito's eyes shifted from the open sliding door, beyond which she was gazing out into the clear night. Her eyes startled Fuu, because they had a haunted look as if nothing could erase her bad memories. Her eyes were back on the crescent moon before Fuu could hardly breathe. "Not particularly," she admitted as Matsuri stumbled out of her futon to join them, roused from her slumber by their voices. "Wazzgoing on?" she asked blearily.

Mito spoke softly, as if she could not muster herself to raise her voice any further. "Matsuri, do you remember when I tested you for any sign of a Kekkei Genkai?"

Matsuri nodded, her brow furrowed. "You said they were incredibly rare…"

"I didn't mention that I have two," Mito interjected suddenly. "The Futton I inherited from the Terumi clan through the blood of my great-grandmother, the only one of my siblings to inherit it, but I also have a second one, one I had no choice in."

Fuu peered curiously at her. "What do you mean?"

"When I was ten I was kidnapped," Mito finally admitted to the trio, her mouth sour with the words. "It was done by a man that had once belonged to Konoha, the ex-teammate of my mother and godfather. He was named a nuke-nin after it was discovered that he was performing human experimentation with the Shodai Hokage's DNA; he really was one of the most despicable men I had ever lain my eyes on." She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "His name was Orochimaru and he tried to assimilate my DNA with the Shodai Hokage's." She scowled fiercely. "I can't really be sure what his motive was, but when I woke up again, I was in the Nara's personal infirmary and Shikamaru was sleeping in the chair next to me with a large bruise on his neck. Shikaku-sensei told me how Inuzuka Hana and Shikamaru tracked me down…it probably saved my life."

Fuu couldn't help the anger that bubbled beneath her skin. Mito hadn't done anything wrong! Maybe that was just her feeling connected to Mito through their shared burden, but it did seem like Mito had been singled out.

A giggle suddenly erupted from Mito's lips. "Don't let it bother you guys…even Shikaku-sensei couldn't blame me when I snuck into Shikamaru's room in the dead of night for a couple weeks."

Matsuri gaped at her. "You snuck into your boyfriend's room?!"

Mito waved off that comment with her hand, though her cheeks turned the barest of pinks. "We weren't dating at the time…"

The laughter made Mito flush darker as she tried to defend herself to them, failing utterly. It wasn't long after that Matsuri succumbed to sleep. Mito's eyes shifted to Fuu's with a soft smile. "I guess I'm not the only one who's a light sleeper."

Fuu shrugged. "It's always been that way. Same for you?"

Her lips twitched slightly. "It must be all those ANBU missions I've gone on…but you should get some rest; I'm going to meditate." Fuu nodded, standing and wandering back to her futon as Mito closed her eyes, focusing her chakra.

"Hey…Shukaku? You still alive?"

The tanuki beast had turned away from her so all she could see was his backside. Mito sighed, not having expected any different. "Look, furball, I don't like you and you don't like me, but we're going to have to work together sometime. I don't want to be someone who just uses up your chakra; I _want_ to like you, I _want_ to work with you, but you're making it so goddamn hard!" She stamped her foot into the damp floor in irritation, before sighing and raising a fist to the raccoon. "Please," she said quietly, "help me become someone to be admired, someone you can trust implicitly."

A single black and bronze eye surveyed her. His container had never looked so serious, there was no hint of weakness or dishonesty in her statement. She had experienced much and overcome much…she had surpassed his expectations and had become the person destined to become the true host of him, one in which the blood of the Rikudo Sennin was strong. If she was destined to be his keeper…well, he might just have to start liking her. Finally, at long last, he extended his fist to bump hers, giving a rumbling chuckle at the look of complete surprise on her face.

" **I might be starting to like you brat**."

Mito found herself grinning widely at that comment, raising her own fist in return.


	5. Through the Mist, Into Clouds

She was the last person Choujuro expected when he went searching for the Senju Mito-sama per Mizukage-sama's request. She reminded him immediately of pictures he'd seen of the Nidiame Hokage, but she didn't look much like him. It was the scars on her cheeks and the firm stare that got him. By the time he had come to a stop in front of her, she had already released about a dozen senbon needles and kunai knifes and was already holding more to throw at him. Impressive accuracy and reloading rate, he had to admit.

"W-wait!"

She froze, momentarily, her keen eyes focused on him, waiting to hear what his reason for tracking her was. In the time it took Choujuro to reach into his waist pouch, she had angled a kunai on his throat, biting into his flesh slightly. One look at her told him she was not impressed.

"A mi-missive from Mizukage-sama!" he choked out.

She arched an eyebrow, tilting her head back and calling out, "Matsuri, check him."

A brown haired girl appeared by his side, breaking the seal on the scroll with ease as she walked past the pair, reading the contents silently.

"Yagura has been defeated," she said, scanning the contents quickly with her eyes, "a new Mizukage has been elected, a Terumi Mei..." she looked up sharply, "she possesses the Futton and the Youton."

Mito stiffened slightly, but waited for Matsuri to finish reading the contents of the scroll.

"She's requesting your assistance in matters of the medical nature," a new voice commented from behind Matsuri and Choujuro started slightly at the appearance of a third girl, one with mint-green hair and odd orange eyes, leaning over the brunette's shoulder reading the contents from behind, "with payment afterwards."

Mito raised an eyebrow, removing her senbon from Choujuro's throat and striding over to the pair, taking the scroll and reading silently.

"I suppose this is legitimate," she said dryly after a long moment, eyeing the boy speculatively, "though I wonder why the Mizukage would entrust such a document to a Chuunin."

Choujuro coughed slightly in embarrassment. "Genin, ma'am."

Her eyebrows inched up higher on her forehead. "Oh, really? You're chakra amount is not Genin-level."

Choujuro felt his cheeks flush brightly at the veiled compliment; he got a feeling she didn't give them out freely.

"I recognize that sword," Matsuri said suddenly, pointing to the wide dual-handled blade strapped to his back. "It's one of the swords of the _Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shuu_ (Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist), isn't it?"

Choujuro started slightly, reflexively reaching for one of the sturdy hilts.

"Shishou had me read up on histories of the other Great Lands," Matsuri explained, catching sight of his unease, "there was a passage describing the weapons of the Seven…the Hiramekarei, right? I only remembered it because it was similar to Shishou's _Byakugou no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal)_." Her eyes flashed to the violet rhombus that lay at the center of her master's forehead.

"Concerning the Mizukage's request," Mito said suddenly, directing the attention away from her seal, "we would be happy to provide Mizukage-sama with whatever she requires…if my apprentices and I are comfortable with it, that is."

Somehow, Choujuro couldn't help but be reminded of Mei-sama when Mito gave him that deathly smile of hers, sending a shiver down his spine.

"I'll be damned," Sarutobi Asuma uttered, smirking around his glowing cigarette. "Little Mito's all grown up."

His companion, the famous Sharingan no Kakashi -otherwise known as Hatake Kakashi-, lifted his dark eyes from his latest Icha Icha novel to follow Asuma's gaze to the Senju heir. Kakashi had never really met the girl, but he had heard rumors about her, bad rumors, worse than Naruto, probably. She had entered ANBU after he had left and she was apprenticed to Nara Shikaku, that was about as much truth about her that he knew. What was really astonishing was how their Commander-san actually took on an apprentice, something he had been saying for years that he would never do. Even more shocking, was when it had been revealed years later that she was dating Shikaku-sama's son, Shikamaru. That was a relationship that hadn't surprised anyone but the two involved.

Clearly, she and her boyfriend were still going strong, if the green haori with the Nara Clan symbol stitched into the back was anything to go by. Her hair had grown out a bit and she had clipped hair cuffs onto her long bangs.

"You trained her?" Kakashi guessed, assuming that Asuma knew her well enough, if he could call her "Mito" so casually and not get his nuts chopped off...or at least thrown into a wall, well, through a wall would be more accurate, considering Mito's brute strength was remarkably similar to her mother's.

"In fire jutsu," Asuma elaborated with a nod, "when she wasn't on missions or Shikaku-sama was busy...she is very impressive."

"She's a prodigy, then?" Asuma raised his eyes slightly.

"Don't let her hear you say that, she hates that kind of terminology. She considers prodigies people who don't have to work hard to be the best; her philosophy is the opposite. Besides, you don't end up with a name like 'Red Flash' without working hard and having some kind of skill."

Mito had caught his eye, a wide grin spreading across her face when he lifted his hand in a light wave. She tossed him a subtle wink before speaking to her only male companion, a boy with light blue hair and rectangular glasses. The boy blinked and nodded to whatever she said, turning slightly as he led her and two others through the crowd, his Kiri hitai-ate catching the light.

Asuma couldn't help but be suspicious of what Mito was doing in the company of one from the Chijiri no Sato (Village of the Bloody Mist). Though, as always, he reserved judgment on the actions Mito performed outside of her general duties.

* * *

"When they say 'hidden in the mist', they mean 'hidden in the mist'," Fuu's voice echoed somewhere behind Mito, probably lost for the seventh time that hour. The mist was thick and copious around all the surrounding areas, swathing the village with fog. It was a wonderful delaying tactic, Mito had to admit as she steered Fuu away from the cliff and into the right direction once again, but the sheer amount.

"How much longer?" Matsuri couldn't help but complain, after cupping her nose in her hands, protecting it from any more trees she could run into.

"The guards are just ahead," Choujuro explained shyly, pointing somewhere within the mist. Mito narrowed her eyes, sending out a subtle pulse of chakra, activating her **Kekkei: Tengai Houjin (Barrier: Canopy Method Formation)** , a technique that allowed her to sense everything within the sphere of chakra that spread out invisibly around her. It was the first jutsu that Jiraiya-oji had taught her, back when she was blind, to help her to not run into so many things. After awhile she hadn't really needed the jutsu, relying more on her own senses, like her great-grandfather. She sighed softly as she pinpointed four chakra signatures, it wasn't caution that brought it on though, it was longing. She tried very hard not to think about her family and friends back in Konoha, because it only caused her more heartbreak, especially since Matsuri was a less shy Hinata and Fuu was a more tomboy-ish Ino. Entering a village always felt like that, and despite her treatment, Mito missed her home, her friends, and her boyfriend. She missed lighting up a cigarette after a long day at the hospital ("Old enough to kill, old enough to smoke," Asuma-sensei had once said), she missed lazing around in the sun on her days off, she missed the times she and her friends had bought meat and vegetables from Yakiniku Q and cooked them on the brazier at her place under the stars...she missed a lot of things now that she thought about it.

The four guards stared at her when they finally came into view, surprised by her age, she assumed, but they gave them passage, all the same.

Kiri was busier than Mito would have expected, but then they probably had to be rebuilt after Yagura-sama's Reign of Terror. She counted a good dozen carpenters hard at work, not even noticing them as they walked by, but the hunter-nin wearing a white mask with the Kiri symbol and a swirl of blue did. Mito watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if Matsuri or Fuu noticed, too relived to not have so much mist covering the inner workings of the village as the outside had been. Still, being in another village always made her a tiny bit uneasy. She practiced a brief amount of rhythmic breathing before following Choujuro blank faced to her meeting with the Mizukage.

"An autopsy?" Mito couldn't keep the surprise from entering her voice as she gazed apprehensively at the man on the metal slab. Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage was as small in death as he was in life. Being in his presence despite him no longer breathing was awing; she couldn't help but admire the man for his prowess in Suiton, though she didn't like how he had prosecuted those with Kekkei Genkai. "I was unaware that your people were incapable of such actions…or is there something else?"

Terumi Mei had to admit that she was sharper than she looked. "I'm afraid all those medic-nins in Kiri that could perform it, won't."

Mito nodded seriously. "I can understand that," she said calmly. "I'll do it…is there anything about him I should be aware of?"

Ao's eyes flickered to his leader's, but he saw no dishonesty in her bright eyes.

"Yagura was the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi."

Violet eyes blinked at her. "Really?" Mito asked in surprise, a hand reaching up to cup her chin in a thoughtful expression. "Well, I suppose it isn't really surprising considering the power he possessed…" Her sensitive nose wrinkled at the slight scent of decay that hit her nose. "I assume all the materials required are in the vicinity?"

"Yes," Mei agreed, bobbing her head in agreement, though she looked a little pale –probably because she was in the same room as the man she had worked so hard to kill. "Ao will show you where everything is, and thank you so much for doing this."

Mito gave a respectful bow to the woman, bending low. "It will be my honor to assist you, Mizukage-sama."

And with that Mei left to attend to her other duties and Mito walked over to scrub her hands and arms thoroughly before the procedure, only to find her way blocked by a sharp kunai lodged over her throat. She lifted her head slightly to eye the masked Hunter-nin, arching a crimson eyebrow. "Now, Ao-san, that's hardly courteous…need I remind you what my death would bring?"

Senju Mito was a dangerous individual; Ao could see why she had become an ANBU.

"Consider it erring on the side of caution," he said through the mask. "If you should go against the wishes of Mei-sama…" he let that threat hang in the open air, but all Mito did was smirk.

"Then I have been warned, Ao-san," she stated calmly, "but I have no interest in sparking a war…I don't have enough time for one." She pulled a blue medical gown over her clothes, pulling a surgical mask over her face. She held a second one to Ao who gave her a dubious expression. "To protect you from airborne diseased pathogens," she explained calmly. "That mask isn't disease-proof, Ao-san. Take it."

So he did, grudgingly, watching her carefully as she frowned over the body. "Where is his seal?"

"Left shoulder blade."

She cut the material away from the torso as she twisted the former Mizukage onto his side, her fingers probing the blue circular seal stamped into the skin. "The Mizu Fuuin (Water Seal)," she said, her voice impressed. "Not as impressive as the Shishou Fuuin (Four Symbols Seal), but higher than I would have expected…ah!" She leaned close, still murmuring to herself. "Some residual chakra, it seems…" She sent a small amount of chakra into the seal, but when she opened her eyes again, she was in a world of darkness.

"What the-?"

 **"Careful, Senju,** " a demonic voice warned from her side, " **you've entered another Jinchuuriki's psyche.** "

Mito glanced over to see Shukaku shrunk to a manageable size, hovering by her side. Her first thought was: "Why are you out of your cage?" In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best question to ask in that situation.

Shukaku's multicolored eyes glared at her with venom. " **You brought me here, foolish child!** " he growled. " **Didn't you notice?!** "

"There's no need to be mean!" Mito said, though she was grinning at him, unfazed by his insults. "You're starting to like me, aren't you?"

 **"Doubtful** ," the sand spirit grumbled, jerking his head past them. " **There he is**."

She recognized the Mizukage, having been familiar with his picture from before. Strange soft pink eyes shone out under short grey hair, a stitch-like scar descending from one eyes down his face. It still stunned Mito that he had such a child-like appearance.

The man bowed lowly to her. "Greetings, I am Yagura."

"Um…Hello, Yagura-sama," Mito responded nervously (why wouldn't she be nervous? This man persecuted people with Kekkei Genkai, like her.), her thumbs and first fingers smoothing together into her nervous habit. "I'm Senju Mito."

His eyes widened barely to Mito's proclamation, but then she did have a similar composure to him and identical shrewd eyes.

"A Jinchuuriki?" he mused.

Mito wrinkled her nose, but thought it best not to lie to the dead man. "That is correct."

Her response actually made him laugh a deep, echoing laugh. "No one likes the terminology."

Mito's lips twitched slightly, but betrayed no other emotions. "Please forgive me, I am not used to speaking with someone such as yourself…your mastery of Suiton is legendary."

His smile was oddly pleased. "Thank you." His attention then turned to his hands that were now becoming transparent. "Ah…it seems I don't have much time left…"

Mito quirked an eyebrow at him. "Then what was the point of preserving your chakra inside your seal?"

He smiled mysteriously. "Out of habit, perhaps…you have a Kekkei Genkai, don't you, Senju-san?"

Violet eyes narrowed slightly. "And if I did?" Her tone was slightly accusatory.

He chuckled once more. "It is just an observation, Senju-san." He stunned her when he reached out to ruffle her bright hair. "Nurture it. Become someone as great as your ancestor. Prove your strength to the world; show them what the Jinchuuriki are capable of."

"I will." Her face was void of uncertainty, a smirk playing across her lips, her eyes shimmering with truth. "You don't need to worry about that, Yagura-sama…" Her eyes shifted to Shukaku and her grin widened. "I have all the help I could possibly need."

Yagura's eyes softened for a brief moment, feeling strangely nostalgic as the rest of his chakra faded and Mito opened her eyes in the real world.

* * *

The time passed rather slowly for Fuu, whose body felt rather strained from how long she went without moving, remaining on the piece of floor that she had sat down upon when Mito had been whisked away. Matsuri had already fallen asleep, and had remained such for hours. Fuu was jealous, silently marveling at how she could so easily fall asleep in places where they were surrounded by people who could easily dispatch them, leaving no evidence of their arrival or subsequent death behind. But, then, Matsuri had been raised civilian, she had had a childhood and parents who showered her with affection, something neither Fuu nor Mito had experienced, and even Mito had only experienced it much later after terrible habits had taken root.

It was only when a gentle hand tapped her shoulder gently, rousing her gently that she realized that she had actually began to fall asleep.

"Fuu?" Mito's voice hummed in her ear, pulling her slowly into awareness, slapping her cheek just enough for the girl to open her bright sleepy eyes. "Can you walk on your own? We're moving to the hotel."

"M'kay," she mumbled, tiredly using the wall to pull herself up into a standing position, blinking several times as Mito lifted her comatose third apprentice into her arms, looping both of their bags over her shoulder. Fuu silently marveled at how kind Mito could be when she wasn't in dire situations or training them into the ground. That wasn't to say she was a mean person, she just had high expectations for her apprentices to go above and beyond, which they did. She supposed this was a quality her boyfriend rather much liked.

She followed behind Mito at a slow pace, nearly walking into several rather obvious posts before they reached the hotel room. Fuu helped Mito remove the bags and tuck the still slumbering Matsuri into a bed.

"You should get some sleep, Fuu," Mito spoke quietly, her voice sounding more like gentle whistles of wind than vibrations made by a voice box.

"What about you?" That was always the question Fuu asked concerning her sensei. Mito was a person who spent more time star gazing than she did sleeping. There were some days where she spent the whole night in a peaceful slumber, but there were also times where she could hardly close her eyes without nightmarish images echoing beneath her closed eyes.

Mito gave her a smile, nonetheless, one that she rarely gave anyone but Shikamaru. "I'll be fine, Fuu, you shouldn't worry so much. Get some sleep."

The order was subtle, but no matter how much Fuu wanted to rebel against it, her body was already exhausted from the hike, and the last thing on her to-do list for the day was get a very restful night of sleep.

"Alright," she conceded, peeling off her sandals and collapsing into the space beside Matsuri, leaving Mito in the silence.

It was a full moon. Mito never slept on full moons. Shukaku was always the strongest on those nights that she grew to fear how the seal on her stomach tightened and burned. Now, she wasn't sure how to feel about the beast. Really, neither of them were in an ideal situation (it never was when you were a Jinchuuriki), but at the same time, Mito hadn't really tried to understand him until recently. She could, theoretically, summon him into the physical plane, and they could, theoretically, learn to work together, but she had reservations. Maybe tonight she would try for some sleep.

"Mito-sama? Mito-sama!" A hand was shaking her into wakefulness.

"Wha-?" Mito blinked her eyes open, scrubbing the sleep from her eyes to stare at a woman she didn't recognize. "What're you-"

"Honestly, Milady!" The woman complained, dragging her out of bed. "It is hardly becoming for the Senju heir to be napping in the middle of the day!"

Against her will, Mito could feel her cheeks enflaming at the veiled insult, so she allowed herself to be dragged through the halls of what she recognized to be the Senju compound (though she was wondering how she got from Kiri to Konoha) to be pushed out of the doors and pointed towards the opposite engawa. "Tobirama-sama has been waiting for you!"

Her violet eyes widened further and her mouth went dry. "Tobirama-ojii?"

She was so confused. Tobirama was dead, the Senju compound was filled with Senju and located in the Nara lands? It was like all of her memories and dreams had smashed together to form this.

Tobirama looked young, his long legs hanging over the engawa as he fiddled with a shogi piece on the board off to the side. His pure white hair fell shaggily around his face framing the marks that Mito had inherited on his cheeks. His solid dark red eyes met hers in an instant and his lips curled upwards as he motioned her closer. And she stumbled forward in compliance. His attention had turned completely onto her as he raised a hand to cup her side holding her before him as he memorized her face.

His smile was kind and his touch was cool like stream water. "Ah, you are a pleasant mix," he said, his voice deeper than Mito anticipated. "I was worried you'd be too much like me…but you have a good bit of Suiren in you."

Mito gritted her teeth, trying to force the tears down, but they fell anyways, trailing rapidly down her cheeks with no sign of stopping. She rubbed an arm over her eyes in an effort to hide them from her great-grandfather, but there was really no point. "I really w-wanted to meet y-you Ojii-san," she choked out, her voice breaking.

A large hand enveloped her arm, prying to gently away from her face, allowing the Nidaime Hokage to see her face. "It is I who has longed to meet you, Senju Mito," he firmly corrected her, cupping a fair cheek in his palm as he smeared away her tears with his thumb. "You have grown up beautifully…you remind me so much of Suiren."

Mito blinked through her tears, startled.

"She had difficulty fitting in in Konoha," he continued, "she was judged every step of the way as both a Kiri native and my wife, but she rose above, just as you have, and I see you have faced great hardships."

Mito sat down hard beside him, peering at him inquisitively with her red eyes. "I suppose you are real," she mused, "but you're also dead, so…" She looked him up and down. "How does this work? Where exactly are we?"

"Your mind, the wishes, your memories," Tobirama shrugged his shoulders, "a mixture of the three…" His attention was directed to the opposite engawa where a pair of children was playing shogi. Mito and Shikamaru, it seemed, when they were much younger. The perpetual scowl was a constant present on her younger self's face as she made a move on the shogi board, and then the pair grew before her eyes until Shikamaru grabbed her hand suddenly, taking off into the forest as his mother yelled after them.

A small chuckle escaped Mito; she remembered that day quite well, he'd asked her on their first date.

Tobirama peered after her boyfriend. "That boy…he's a Nara isn't he?"

"Yes," Mito agreed, her grin wide.

Tobirama glanced at her, chuckling as well at the soft look in her eyes, so much like Suiren's. "He treats you well?"

"The best," Mito agreed.

"Good."

Mito's cheeks flushed slightly.

"As to how this works," Tobirama continued from her earlier question, "when my son was still in Suiren's womb I channeled my chakra into a simple seal that then attached to him, allowing my descendents after him a small amount of access to my chakra to be activated in times of stress." He glanced at her. "You are at a loss, it seems."

"I do not know how I should view anything," Mito admitted after a long silence. "Being a member of ANBU has brought me clarity in how the world works, it has brought me joy and sadness." Tobirama watched as wet dots spread across the material covering her thighs. Tears. "I just received word from Sandaime-sama that my ANBU partner, Aburame Komachi, is dead."

"You were close," the Nidaime Hokage guessed.

"She was the best," Mito pointed out, drawing her knees to her chest, hiding her face effectively. "And I was the worst."

A large hand dropped to ruffle her hair affectionately and she lifted her head to stare into his crimson eyes. "In ANBU there are never the best or the worst. All members are talented, but some are better suited for the regular forces, like you."

"Perhaps," Mito mumbled.

"The future is filled with such possibility," Tobirama added, squeezing her hand gently as he feathered a kiss to her forehead directly over her seal, "maybe you should think of yourself, for once."

* * *

Fuu hissed under her breath, carefully wrapping her bruised and cut wrist in gauze, wincing as she tied it tightly. She barely blinked when Mito handed her a bag of ice, dropping it softly onto the bandage, sighing softly as she did so. "Mito-sensei?" she asked after a long moment, her tangerine orbs meeting Mito's luminescent eyes that were now the color of amaranthine in the setting sun. "How hard did you have to work to be as good as you are?"

Mito shrugged carelessly, so used to downgrading her skills. "A good while," she said after a long moment, though Fuu had no idea what that meant. "The one thing you can never forget, Fuu, is your resolve to become better. You'll find people that you will come to admire and they will inspire you, you'll want to prove yourself by basing your skills off theirs, but you shouldn't."

"Eh?" Fuu canted her head to the side in confusion, furrowing her forehead slightly. "What d'you mean by that?"

Mito's eyes narrowed slightly in thought as she considered her answer to that. "When I was younger, I wanted to be just like Kaa-chan, but I can't be; I've rarely ever seen her use Ninjutsu and the Hiraishin is something my great-grandfather created, so naturally I'd have an interest in it. I can push my body as far as it can go and I still won't be just like her, and I don't care anymore because, being me and choosing my own path is something she always wanted me to do." Mito tossed a wink to Fuu. "All I'm saying is be who you want to be, and don't let anyone question you."

Fuu could never tell what she was thinking when her eyes got that way, though she suspected that Mito had heard that Mei-sama had approached her about remaining in Kiri for a few more weeks to months and assisting with the medical program.

"So," she began carefully, "you're saying I should stay?"

"If that's what you want," Mito said easily. "I have already informed Hokage-sama that my second apprentice will be a bit later following my return."

Fuu sputtered incoherently, her tongue ceasing to function for a few seconds. "Wait, you knew I was going to choose to stay?"

"As a medic-nin, I can understand wanting to help people," Mito said easily, her eyes following a father and his son as they walked by, the father had a bandage wound tightly about his head and was missing a few fingers. "I believe it would be in your best interests to spend a month or two assisting the rebuilding of the medical program here in Kiri."

Fuu stared at her, her mouth dropping open in surprise.

"I'd feel more confident if it was you than Matsuri," she admitted, watching her brown-haired apprentice perform her Taijutsu katas not too far away, though far enough that she would not hear them. "Matsuri is too kind. Sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is bad. She is capable of being a strong, powerful, able kunoichi, but I'm afraid she'll lose her nerve." Purple eyes shifted to survey the former Taki kunoichi and a wry smile curled her lips. "You, on the other hand, have lived as a kunoichi and know how to live as one. I don't have to worry about you."

Mito took a long swig of her tea. "I'm asking you to stay here, because I know that it's what you want…you know that, right?"

Fuu glanced around the recovering city. Mito was right, she did want to help, and Mito was on a tight schedule; they were due back to Konoha days ago and they were running late.

"I've informed Mizukage-sama that you will be assisting her for the next two months before returning to Konoha," Mito continued. "I'm sure you will find that satisfactory?"

"Mito-sensei," Fuu murmured, her hair shadowing her eyes, "thank you."

The smile she received in return was the only response she gave.

* * *

Matsuri took Mito's hand as the older girl helped her from the ship, finally onto dry land. The whole trip back had been as worse as the way over and Matsuri had found herself locked in the barracks with a green tinge to her face.

"Do you think Fuu-san will be alright on her own?" Matsuri inquired to her sensei of her fellow apprentice.

"Don't worry too much about Fuu," Mito said with a chuckle, ruffling Matsuri's brown spikes like she always did, taking a small scroll from the Kiri shinobi who had joined them on the journey, thanking him politely. "She knows what she's doing."

Somehow, Matsuri couldn't be as sure as her Shishou in that regard, but she dropped the subject as they weaved through the crowd of sea merchants, the throng of people pushing against them as they moved. Getting through them was a bit of a trial, but in the end they managed it.

But then someone else was blocking their path. It was a lone figure wearing the white flak of Kumo. Her dark skin was typical of those in Kumo, but her hair, not so much.

She skidded to a stop in front of Mito, her light grey bangs swinging from the movement. "Senju-sama, I presume?"

Mito's eyes narrowed dangerously, her arm dropping to her waist in what seemed like a casual motion, but Matsuri knew of the hidden compartment of senbon she carried there. "Do I know you?"

"I am Mabui of Kumo," she introduced herself, "and no, we have never met. I am Raikage-sama's assistant."

Mito did not relax her stance despite being familiar with the legendary A. "Am I correct in assuming his **Bakuretsuchuu (Exploding Insect)** as grown to such a size that it needs immediate removal?"

"Hai, that is correct," Mabui conceded. "We cannot ask this of our own medic-nin because they have neither the skill nor the clearance, and if you were to complete this task, you would be paid handsomely, though you will have to sign a silence agreement." Why did it seem like Mito had to pick up the slack for incapable medic-nins? Honestly, what was the world coming to? First Kiri, now Kumo?

"And if I were to ask for payment in the form of a body?" Mito found herself inquiring.

Now Matsuri was looking at her oddly for such a strange request, but Mito's eyes were hard sapphire.

Suspicion crept into Mabui's voice. "What kind of body are you speaking of?"

"The deceased body of Hyuuga Hizashi."

Mabui couldn't hold back the surprised gasp that escaped her. "Um…well," she rambled, "You'd have to take it up with him, I'm afraid."

"I intend to."

* * *

Mito could feel the eyes on her as she carefully dug the scalpel into the Raikage's skin, efficiently removing one of the bug's legs from the chakra network.

"I am in the middle of a surgery, Bee-sama," Mito said without preamble, not looking up from the bulging insect-shaped injury, making sure that her assistant's use of the hemostatic jutsu was spot on; she would hate to be the blame of the death of the Raikage.

"Tell me how you became a pseudo-Jinchuuriki," the Raikage's younger brother commanded in his rapping way, "'cause you so sneaky!" Mito twitched at the terrible rhyme, but could tell it was also an invitation. She said nothing for a moment, even as Matsuri's dark eyes flashed up to her sensei's face, and the green chakra fanning out around her hands wavered slightly.

"Focus, Matsuri!" snapped Mito, "Do not allow yourself to lose focus during a surgery!"

"H-Hai!" Matsuri's eyes narrowed in concentration. _I am the apprentice of Senju Mito,_ she told herself, _and I will prove myself to her!_

Mito released a soft hiss as the last leg proved quite difficult to excise, and then a sigh escaped her lips as she tossed the blood covered white insect onto the floor.

"Close him up," she ordered her apprentice, handing the insect to one of the only Kumo-nin who had any knowledge of the operation with instructions on how to destroy it.

Mito pulled the bloody latex from her hands and into the dustbin, turning her tired eyes to the man who was a Jinchuuriki judging by how his chakra felt, and the seal on his shoulder was a dead give-away. Inwardly, she was relieved that he didn't recognize her as a Jinchuuriki; she liked her anonymity. "The Ichibi was sealed inside my brother when we were both still inside the womb, one of the many reasons I am so gifted is because of my exposure to the raw chakra of Shukaku. Now," she rubbed her eyes in exhaustion, not even bothering to hide her yawn, "If you'll excuse me and my apprentice; we are long overdue for some rest. We'll have time to chat tomorrow, if I can manage to stay awake." Mito gave another wide yawn.

She waved them all good night, following Mabui who took them to an inn to stay the night in.

"Thank you," the woman said again. "I don't know-"

"Its fine, really," Mito assured her with a slight smile, "it's kind of our job, right Matsuri?"

Matsuri had been worried that Mito had been regretting taking her on as an apprentice, but the smile she cast towards her drove those feelings away. And she nodded in agreement, but despite that, the next morning she was still a little worried.

"You did well yesterday."

Matsuri jumped at the voice and looked up to the face of a medical-nin she had seen her sensei talking to when she was half-asleep; they apparently knew each other. She relaxed slightly. "But I screwed up."

He snorted beside her. "We all screw up, Matsuri-san, what matters is that we learn from our mistakes. We'll just have to work harder when we reach Konoha, that's all." Matsuri liked how he said 'we' and not 'you', it made her feel less pathetical, but, then again, neither of them would be matching Mito any time soon.

"I'm Amai, by the way," the man said, handing her an onigiri. "I met Mito-sama when she was a little girl."

Matsuri nodded distractedly, smelling the rice ball for any hints of a poison; this seemed to amuse Amai.

"Your master's taught you well," he informed her with a smile, "but don't worry; we don't poison people after they help us out."

Matsuri nodded, nibbling on the rice. "What was she like, you know, when you met her?"

Amai sat down next to her, swinging his legs off the balcony as well as he pondered her question. "Well, she was blind for one, and that made it difficult to take her seriously, she was a little quiet, but firm as well; it's hard to believe that she's almost as famous as her mother."

"Funny thing, isn't it?" a mild voice asked, having Matsuri scramble into a standing position. "Time; so many things can change given the opportunity."

Mito's hands rested on her apprentice's shoulders as she gazed at the medical-nin. "I hope you aren't trying to insult me, Amai-san."

Amai tumbled over his words. "Of course not, Mito-sama!"

She smiled, genuinely this time, and Amai blushed. "If you'll excuse us, we have to check on Raikage-sama; come along Matsuri."

Matsuri grinned, following her sensei. So much had changed in the last few months, especially for Matsuri and Fuu. Matsuri had thought she was going to have to give up her dream of being a great kunoichi, since she could barely touch weapons, but then she'd gotten up the courage to ask and she hadn't been denied. Matsuri had been given a remarkable opportunity, and as such, she was subjected to jealous glares, but she didn't mind, because she still remembered the day when Mito told her that she was a uniquely gifted kunoichi, perhaps even more gifted than her two apprentices back in Konoha, as gifted as Fuu. The two were special she had informed them, very special. She told them how proud she was to have taught them.

"You must be feeling quite well, Raikage-sama," Mito said, her tone lifting into a sardonic nature, "for I can see no other reason for you to be working directly after a surgery."

The Raikage set his paperwork aside. "And you know for me, weakness is not an option; how much do I owe you for your discretion?"

"You will need a check up in a few months to ensure there is no debilitating damage done to your body, but I can do that under the pretext of a nearby mission I am sure..." Mito's violet eyes narrowed. "I will not reveal the details of my service to you, for one price." Matsuri's eyes sharpened, remembering the price she had named days earlier, the body of a deceased man.

The Raikage's assistant, Mabui interjected suddenly, trying to convince her yet again, "If its money-"

"No," violet eyes cut to Mabui's green ones, effectively silencing the kunoichi, "I want the body of Hyuuga Hizashi."

The silence was deafening.

"That is a very high price," A growled, "What would make you demand such a thing?"

"His son," Mito said shortly, earning her a concerned and a confused look from Matsuri. "A son that never got to bury his father."

A met her gaze, but her amethyst orbs were unwavering. "I would only agree to such a thing because of the great service you have done for me."

He could see the gears behind her eyes turning, trying to smell out a lie, but found none; he could see the brilliant strategist beneath the beautiful kunoichi.

A stood. "Follow me."

Whatever Mito was expecting it was not a hospital. "Raikage-sama?" she asked nonplussed as he led them down a deserted hallway to come to a stop. She took one look inside and gasped. Mito, of course, did not recognize him, but his chakra signature was nearly identical to Hyuuga Hiashi's-twins. The man was supine, wearing a simple white kimono, an oxygen mask had been placed over his mouth and an IV drip had been set up beside him. The steady beeping on the heart monitor was the only relief to Mito's frantically beating heart.

"He's…still alive?" she asked blankly, turning her shocked eyes to the Raikage.

"We realized soon after Hyuuga-san was brought here that he wasn't Hiashi, the Head of the Hyuuga Clan," Mabui explained, "and once we realized killing him would negate the affects of his Byakugan, we had him placed into a medically induced coma until we could figure out a way to cancel his cursed seal."

"I see," Mito said coldly, and Mabui quickly silenced herself, remembering she was in front a loyal kunoichi of Konoha. She turned to Amai. "Will his breathing rate change when we remove him from the oxygen mask?"

"No, Mito-sama," he assured her, "the breathing mask was just a precaution.

"Alright, then." Mito's face was solemn as she made three hand signs. " **Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)!"**

Hizashi's unconscious form was enveloped in smoke, and when it had cleared, a much younger Hizashi lay there, perhaps seven or eight years old. Mito removed him from the machines, lifting him gingerly into her arms before bowing to the Raikage. "Raikage-sama, you have my word, not even the Hokage will hear of the exact service I performed. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to be in Konoha by midday."


	6. Chosen Path

In an emergency council meeting was not how Nara Shikaku wanted to spend his late evening, but it wasn't like he really had a choice in the matter. The issue currently in dispute had a name, of course, Senju Mito, and was currently what seemed to be dozing in her chair with her apprentice hovering anxiously to the back of the chair, anxiety flitting across her face. The civilian side was clearly not on her side, why, he had no idea, leaked information perhaps, as it always was with them. It was like watching a tennis match with how the two sides were practically at war. The creativity of the insults made towards Mito was very impressive, though, her apprentice looked like she was half ready to tear them a new one, if given the opportunity. Mito's eyes finally opened when a puff of smoke appeared in front of her, stalling conversation.

It was a small tanuki with a Konoha headband strapped to its head with holes for its ears. It gave a respectful bow to Mito.

"Mito-sama! What you've requested has been completed!" He yipped excitedly.

A faint smile touched her lips, though Shikaku could see that it was on the vague side; it was the smile she wore when dealing with difficult people or unknown situations. "Thank you, Bunseki-san, let Hiro-sama know that I appreciate it."

"Yes, ma'am!" He chirped, disappearing into smoke once more.

"What?" she snapped in irritation at the attention she had garnered. "Never seen a summoned animal before?"

Shikaku had to give it to his apprentice, she really knew how to poke fun at other people, making them feel dumber than the graduating class' dead last (who wasn't really dumb, if you really looked). In that aspect, she had changed a great deal over the past year.

The bored expression she currently had was a dead ringer for Shikaku's, and therefore Shikamaru's.

"Are we done here?" she continued coolly, her violet eyes glinting like amethysts in the half-light. "My apprentice needs rest and I need to finish my report."

She wasn't kidding. The brunette behind her had thick shadows under her eyes and was so pale one might certainly be able to see through her. She gave her master a faint smile when the red-head glanced at her, but she didn't bother to deny the truth.

Mito lips uplifted into a deadly smirk as she surveyed them with a calm sort of air. "And if your excuse is demons, it is void. The only demons in this room are the ones you bring yourselves."

With a few selected phrases, Mito had turned the tide in her favor, and she left shortly after with Shikaku by her side.

"Must have been an interesting year," Shikaku commented mildly as Mito adjusted the scroll on her back (she had sent a kage bunshin ahead to her estate with Matsuri in tow for the girl to rest). "You're definitely more confident than before."

Mito ruffled the top of her head slightly, her eyes unsurprised by the comment. "Well, two apprentices will do that to you, I suppose…So how is everyone?"

Her voice was deceptively light and he could tell she was only referring to one person in particular.

"They've been good," he admitted, "though you missed all the excitement by about a half hour."

Mito glanced up to her sensei, her curiosity piqued. "What makes you say that?"

"Well…" Before he knew it, Shikaku was telling her of how Naruto had stolen the **Fuuin no Sho** (Scroll of Seals) after a botched Genin Exam (which he should have passed with no trouble considering how hard he had actually studied for it).

"Unbelievable," Mito muttered under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose under her hand. "What a thing to come home to, well at least it's all been resolved and Naruto's a Genin."

"How do you know he's a Genin?" Shikaku asked curiously.

"Well, he's wearing a hitai-ate, isn't he?" Mito asked, pointing off into the distance ahead of them.

A pair grew steadily closer, one very tall and one very short –not unlike Shikaku and Mito- and Mito's feet surged forward as they came under a nearby light. The shadows dappled across her cousin's face and she could see that much had changed since she had left. His blonde spikes were longer, falling more into his eyes than before, and his skin had a healthier glow, and he was taller than last time. His blue eyes widened once he caught sight of her and then he was racing towards her as well. They met halfway and for a moment, Shikaku saw Kushina and Minato embracing after a long, hard mission, covered in sweat, blood, but not caring.

"Mito-chan!"

The red-haired girl parted from the blonde with a tremulous smile that spoke volumes, her eyes over-bright. "Naruto…you look good."

The boy positively beamed. "Yoshino-oba's been making sure I eat really well!"

"I'm sure," Mito said, slightly amused, her eyes glinting in the lamplight. "Congratulations, by the way." She was gesturing towards the hitai-ate tied to his forehead. "I guess this means you're ready for some higher level jutsu, eh?"

She was sure she could stars in Naruto's eyes before he hugged her tightly. "YES!"

Mito winced as her enhanced hearing rang with his voice. "Ow, volume control, Naruto," she complained, rubbing her ear exaggeratedly, but she smiled all the same.

"Did you miss me?"

The glare she earned made her laugh as she ruffled his hair affectionately. "Don't worry," she said softly, "this time, I won't run away so easily."

Iruka had been watching the entire exchange in just a small amount of shock and surprise; the way the girl treated Naruto was so soft and gentle that he would have thought her his sister.

"Naruto," Shikaku cleared his throat, making three pairs of eyes swivel towards him, "why don't you go inside? Get some sleep for tomorrow."

"What about Mito-chan?" the blonde pressed, tugging on the sleeve of his cousin's haori. "Aren't you coming?"

Mito's smile was frozen and mostly a grimace. "Sorry, kiddo, I've got a lot of work to do before I hit the sack, and the Hokage will need his report on one of the missions he sent me on. You'll probably see me in a few days, I get the feeling that I'll be really busy."

"Okay…" Naruto said a little sullenly, yawning tiredly, so tiredly that he didn't notice Shikaku's arms going under him to lift him like he was a child (which he was, technically speaking).

"Get some rest, Mito," Shikaku warned, making her smile as he entered his lands, leaving the other two alone.

"So you're Umino Iruka," Mito assumed, eyeing him carefully. "You are not what I expected."

They way she was studying him was far too calculating for a face so young, but Iruka knew better to judge.

She inclined her head slightly. "I am Senju Mito, I'm sure Naruto has mentioned me?"

"Oh!" Iruka couldn't help but be surprised. He would have thought that Tsunade-sama's daughter would be nearly identical to her, that had been his first mistake. And he had heard Naruto speak frequently of a "Mito-chan." "It's nice to finally meet you."

"I'm sure."

Her violet eyes glinted in the darkness as she glanced back towards the Nara estate. She sighed forlornly. "I should've gone and said hello to Shikamaru-kun at the least," she muttered to herself, before shoving her hands in her pockets and hunching her shoulders, making the pendant around her neck shimmer in the light of the lampposts. The Nara Clan symbol. So she was Shikamaru's-!

"I'm a medic-nin. Do you want me to look at your back?" she asked as they continued through the darkened city.

"No, no, that's alright," Iruka said quickly. "I'm sure you're busy."

"I am," she agreed in a blunt manner, pausing to take a different fork that led towards her compound. "Do take care of yourself, Umino-san."

By the time he had blinked, she had vanished.

She reappeared in her compound once more, moving to where Matsuri was in a matter of seconds.

"Matsuri," she chided gently, "get some sleep, you certainly need it."

Matsuri smiled weakly where she was checking Hyuuga Hizashi's vitals under the watchful eye of an ANBU member and the Hokage. "Its alright, Shishou, I have a job to do."

Mito's grin was one of pride. "Good girl."

"Mito," Sandaime's voice brought her out of her musing, and she turned to face her leader, "are you certain this is him?"

"No," she said bluntly, "but I suppose there is only one way to find out, isn't there?"

She wasn't wrong. She would have to be very delicate about explaining the situation to him, of all people.

"If he is who I think he is," she continued, "he'll be out of commission for months, at least. Would it be unwise to request supervision by a member of ANBU?"

"No," Hiruzen agreed with a heavy sigh, feeling much older than he'd felt in a very long time, "consider it done."

"Thank you," she said gratefully. "Expect my report on your desk by sunrise."

She gave a respectful bow and he tipped his hat to her and her apprentice, leaving them in peace and quiet, only broken by the calm beeping of the heart monitor.

"While you're awake Matsuri," Mito continued, "there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Something new?" the Suna-born medic-nin asked excitedly, but her face quickly fell at how somber her master looked. "Shishou, what is it?"

"I have to tell you something, something about your past…and mine," she said, looking pained, "and when I've finished, you may not want to remain on as my apprentice."

* * *

The grass crinkled slightly under Shikamaru's sandals as he walked through the mostly empty forest, grumbling under his breath. He had been a little surprised when his father had told him of Mito's return to the village late last night (one would have thought that he was annoyed that she hadn't come to say hello, but Shikamaru didn't mind not losing sleep), and then slightly excited. One might not think that was the appropriate response for a pair who had been dating, but Shikamaru knew Mito better than anyone else, and she him. She knew how much he liked to sleep and he knew how much she liked to experiment. They knew what could annoy the other very easily.

A flash of red caught his eye.

She was standing so motionlessly that Shikamaru was sure that he would have thought her to be a tree, if he hadn't seen her do it countless times before. Her lips twitched into a smile, sensing his presence, as he leaned against a nearby tree, waiting for her to finish, taking in the differences.

Her hair was no longer the messy mop that it had once been, now even and brushing lightly against her shoulders. She had grown a little taller, but not much (to his amusement, as he was still taller than her). The green haori he had given her was still around her shoulders with no sign of wear or tear. For a long while, she did not speak or move, simply remaining stock-still, just like his father had taught her.

But at long last, she breathed out deeply and her eyes fluttered open to reveal enchantingly violet orbs. He had almost forgotten the exact shade of purple they were.

"Shikamaru-kun," she said with no hint of surprise, her fair cheeks coloring slightly as she took him in, "you look…" she wasn't quite sure which adjective she should be using to describe him.

"I know." His eyes fastened on hers once more. "You're still wearing it."

Mito lifted a hand automatically to the black choker around her throat, her cheeks dusting a pale pink. "It was a gift."

"But you know what it means," Shikamaru continued, moving closer to her so he could take her hand in his.

"Yes," she whispered, her free hand tightening over the edge of his vest. "And I don't mind."

His father had given it to his mother when he had proposed to her. It was a betrothal gift that was passed down from generation to generation, before there were engagement rings. Honestly, Shikamaru hadn't even been thinking of that when he gave it to her.

"But," she continued, "if you don't mind, I think I'll wait for the ring."

"You are one troublesome girlfriend," Shikamaru complained though he was privately pleased at her response. Mito leaned forward and released her grip on his vest to instead hook the single arm around his neck, her bright smile still present on her face.

"Thought you liked it that way?" she responded easily.

"Possibly." He lifted one hand to trace one of the birthmark lines on her cheek, feeling her cheeks fill with heat under his touch. If there was something the pair of them was known for, it was being discreet. Sure, they held hands in public –or Mito looped hers around his arm- and she often kissed his cheek, but they were not very vocal about their relationship, which would be far too troublesome. But now they were alone, so Mito wasn't too surprised when his hand curled around her neck to pull her face forward, her lips meeting his, making her whole body tingle, and try as she might, she couldn't silent the small gasp of surprise at his forwardness. Yet, she couldn't break from him, relaxing in his arms, returning it whole-heartedly.

"I missed this," she whispered once their lips had parted, leaving hers tingling. "I missed you."

"Same," he said with a tired yawn, making her giggle.

"Have fun today," she said, extracting herself from his arms with a grin, "and could you tell your father I need to speak with him about something?"

His eyebrows creased together in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

Her smile faltered slightly. "No, it's just something I should have told him a long time ago."

Shikamaru didn't press the issue, waving goodbye an loping back towards the main house to relay her message.

When Shikaku finally made it to where she was, Mito was no longer standing, but lounging against the trunk of a tree shredding grass between her fingers. She lifted her gaze to squint up at him, the sun outlining him as he sat down.

"Shikamaru said you wanted to chat," Shikaku said in that calm, lazy manner that Mito had grown so used to hearing.

Mito nodded, looking a bit strained.

"When you first took me on as your apprentice," Mito said slowly, fingering one of the two rings that now adorned her hands, "you made me promise not to keep any secrets."

This was not what Nara Shikaku had been expecting. What he had anticipated was discussing which countries she had been in contact with and how her relationship with them was, but this…

"When I took you on as an apprentice," he said, repeating her words, "I knew there were going to be things you might never tell me about…I just wanted to see if you would agree-"

"Then why, if I lied, why?" she questioned, her face strangely closed off, or not so strangely, if you considered that she was a member of ANBU.

His eyes gazed into hers. They were so like Kushina's, but at the same time, not. "Because I saw something in you, something that no one else saw."

Her amethyst-colored eyes gained a bit of life at that comment. "And what was that?"

"Strength of heart," he said. "No one who could train with Tsunade-hime for an extended amount of time was weak. I could see the fire in your eyes." Black probed purple. "Shikamaru sees it too."

Pink blossomed on her cheeks at that last comment, but it faded quickly. "I had another master, you know, before I met Kaa-chan."

"I know," he agreed, "it was a man, wasn't it? The man who rescued you from the desert?"

Mito sighed tiredly (how long had she been up?). "The man's name is Akasuna no Sasori."

Shikaku froze. That was the name of a missing-nin from Suna, one whom was suspected of killing one of their Kazekages, to think she had once been so close to a man like that…

"He may not have been a good man," she conceded, "but for once in my life, he showed me how to become something…Kouga-san was a great teacher, don't get me wrong, but Shishou forced me into situations where I had to advance so that I could live. It might seem cold to you, but no one had ever paid that much attention to me." Her smile turned bitter. "He could have made me into a weapon, you know, make me his loyal companion forever and I would have done it gladly, but he let me go."

"Does that make you mad?" he felt himself asking.

"It used to," Mito admitted, "but now I get it. The life he lived wasn't for me…besides," she added grimly, "if I had stayed by his side, I'd be dead by now." She didn't elaborate on that, though Shikaku had an idea of what she was talking about. "He killed the Sandaime Kazekage, Matsuri's grandfather… I'm not sure if she wants to learn from me anymore."

They were interrupted by the sound of rushing feet as said girl skidded to a halt in front of them. Startled, Mito stood. "Matsu-"

"I don't _care_ ," Matsuri said out of breath, "that your master killed my grandfather! You think that just because you were taught by the guy who killed a former kage of my village that _I_ was gonna give up?!"

Mito stared at her, a little dumbfounded as Shikaku watched on in silent amusement.

"You showed me that being a kunoichi was more than using weapons, _you_ showed me that I could be someone when everyone put me down!" Her obsidian eyes shone with tears. "You gave Fuu a new life! You taught us that we could be _anything_ we wanted if we worked hard enough! And I am _going_ to be the best medic-nin in Suna!"

For a moment neither moved, simply staring at each other. Privately, Mito was impressed that she had spoken out so much.

"I look forward to the day when that is true," she said finally, "but you've got a long way to go, brat. I hope you're ready for some new training regimes."

Shikaku laughed as Matsuri's face brightened, thus drawing her attention and subsequently causing her to turn a deep cherry red. "U-Um…hello, sorry about that…I really had to get that out."

Mito tossed him a glance, chuckling softly under her breath. "Matsuri, this is Nara Shikaku."

"Oh!" Matsuri's eyes widened, almost comically. "You're Shishou's sensei, right? The lazy one?"

"Carrying tales, Mito?" Shikaku said with a slight smirk.

Mito shrugged her shoulders. "Whenever comic relief is needed."

She ignored his roll of the eyes, though Matsuri giggled, never having seen her master like that before. Konoha might not be so bad after all.

* * *

"Hey, Asuma-sensei! You got a lighter on you?"

"'Course I do, Mito, who do you take me for?"

Yuuhi Kurenai had seen a lot of strange things in her life, but she had never seen an adult shinobi and a thirteen year old kunoichi share a lighter for their cigarettes. The girl breathed in a long drag, issuing a steady stream of smoke from her lips.

"I needed that," she said, "smoking always calms me down."

Sarutobi Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Been doing anything stressful lately, Mito?"

Mito chuckled sardonically. "Asuma-sensei, you are aware of what I do for a living?"

"Too true," Asuma agreed, bumping her fist with his before she was dragged away by Nara Shikaku, the Jounin Commander, to her surprise.

"Asuma's bad habits are starting to stick with you," he said with a morose sigh, but the girl only laughed, squeezing his fingers lightly. There was a certain familiarity between the two, as if they had a familial bond.

"That's Senju Mito," Asuma explained helpfully to the new Jounin, "she's Shikaku-sama's apprentice."

Kurenai couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. "Apprentice? I would've thought she was his daughter." Though, that would have been impossible with her coloring, besides, Shikaku-sama only had one child, a son.

He smirked around his cigarette. "Not quite. She is dating his son, though." He glanced at the time. "C'mon, Kurenai, we should head inside, they'll be starting soon."

"Of course," she agreed. She saw the girl again as they lined up before the Hokage, though she stood off to the side beside her sensei, and it was only then that Kurenai recognized the lab coat she was wearing. She was a medic-nin?

Hime no Konoha tossed her a wink as the Hokage began to speak, listing off the new Genin teams.

"The Genin that are assigned to Team Seven are Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Mito wrinkled up her nose in distaste, throwing an unimpressed look up to her sensei who squeezed her shoulder with a wry grin. That response didn't escape Kurenai who couldn't help but wonder why she disapproved of the grouping.

"I will be placing Hatake Kakashi in charge of this team," Sandaime-sama announced as small murmurs followed his decision. The Hokage gazed over his clipboard to the masked Jounin. "Understood, Kakashi?"

"Yes, sir."

He continued, "Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Yuuhi Kurenai will be in charge of those three."

Kurenai made a small stutter of surprise. "Y-Yes, sir."

"Now, Kurenai, this is your first time being in charge of Genin, isn't it?" He inquired. "Keep in mind that the Jounin in charge will decide their future."

"Right," Kurenai agreed. "I'll be careful with them, sir."

"The Genin of Team Ten are," The Hokage continued on, "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. I'm placing Sarutobi Asuma in charge of them."

"Rodger!"

The list continued on, until, using an almost unseen movement, the Hokage waved the Senju girl forward. When Kurenai blinked, she missed the movement, because now the girl was kneeling next to their leader on the table in a stance identical to the one the ANBU were taught.

Asuma whistled lowly. "She's gotten faster."

"I'm sure you won't mind staying in-village for a few more weeks?"

"Not at all, Hokage-sama," she said respectfully, "my apprentice will still be expected to take missions without me, yes?"

"That is correct." Though they both knew she'd only be going on D and C-ranks.

"Thank you, sir." She said with a smile, vanishing and reappearing by her sensei's side once more, ignoring him as he rolled his eyes at her display. Clearly, Mito was the sort of person who didn't give a damn about what others thought of her, judging by how she showed a good dozen or so Jounin their place. Though she winked at Maito Gai when he gave her a brilliant grin and a double thumbs up.

Not twenty minutes later she could be found racing through the halls to find who she sought before they left.

"Yuugao-senpai!" she called out, stalling the older woman. Mito had heard stories about her; she was an ANBU legend, right up there with Hatake Kakashi. "Yuugao-senpai, wait!"

The woman with long violet hair wearing a cat mask turned to survey her. "Yes, Senju-sama?"

"You're dating Gekkou Hayate, aren't you?" Mito asked in a single breath. "Can you inform him I would like a look at his lungs? Tomorrow at the hospital at eight?"

Yuugao's voice was pained as she spoke, something Mito could understand completely. "Many medic-nins have already tried and failed, Senju-sama," she said throatily.

"I don't want to sound arrogant," Mito said quickly, "but those medic-nins weren't me. Eight o'clock, don't be late."

And she disappeared in a flash of red, unaware of the glimmer of hope that had begun to fester in her eyes.

* * *

"I need you to relax your posture, Hayate-san," Mito told him apologetically. "I know it'll make it a bit difficult to breathe, but it'll help me with my diagnosis." She turned her head to view Hayate's long-time girlfriend, Uzuki Yuugao. "Yuugao-senpai, it's going to be your job to keep him as calm as possible."

"Of course," Yuugao agreed immediately. "Anything!"

Hayate gave her a weak smile as Mito pressed her green chakra-glowing hands onto his bare back, closing her eyes as she focused on sending her chakra through his system, detecting the anomalies.

"Could you cough for me?" she asked politely. "Just a light one."

Once he had done so, she thanked him just as politely. After a few moments she removed her hands, informing him he could put his shirt back on and sit up once more. For a long moment, she didn't say a single word, which worried Yuugao more than she was willing to admit, simply jotting down notes on a clipboard and muttering to herself.

"Everything seems in order…" Her violet eyes lifted from the paper to survey the pair. "Hayate-san, I believe you are suffering the long-term effects of a mineral-based poison."

"All this from a poison?" Yuugao asked, agape in astonishment. "But he's had this illness since he was a child!"

"It's possible the maker tested it out in the water supply," Mito suggested with a shrug that might have seemed careless, but Yuugao thought she might have seen a number of poisons like that, "It's likely that the poison was diluted in the water and didn't affect anyone else because their immune systems were able to combat it quickly…were you prone to sickness as a child?" she asked, directing her question to Hayate, who gave a hacking cough before rasping a "Hai".

"I thought so. I'm going to request for an extraction of the poison to get a sample, but make no mistake, there will be dangers to this operation," she said seriously. "Your lungs could collapse in the middle of the procedure or begin to bleed based on how thin your lung tissue is."

"Will it –cough- be worth it?" Hayate rasped, squeezing his girlfriend's fingers. This was the closest he'd ever been to a cure, if there was even a chance that he could live a long and healthy life, he'd take it and grasp it with both hands.

Mito's eyes shifted between both of theirs and she sighed. "In my expert opinion as a medic-nin," She began, pinching her nose between her fingers, "in the long run, being without this illness will make you a better shinobi with greater stamina and possibly a greater amount of chakra." Her gaze swept over the pair in front of her. "Your girlfriend will be able to hold you without fear of making your breathing more difficult, or you could walk the length of Konoha without getting a shortness of breath or coughing."

"Then we must do it!" Yuugao said fervently, her brown eyes filled with fresh tears. At her side Hayate nodded in agreement. "Please!"

"Are you even listening to me?" Mito snapped suddenly, causing the pair to back-pedal rather suddenly. "I wouldn't have even suggested this if Yamanaka Ino and Hyuuga Hinata weren't skilled in Medical Ninjutsu and Matsuri wasn't skilled with poisons! You could die!"

"I could've died –cough- every day since I –cough- got sick," Hayate said just as easily. "If this procedure works –cough- I'll be a free man."

"And I'm guessing you'll want it done as soon as possible, then?" Mito guessed dryly. Not waiting for the answer she already knew, she turned back to her clipboard. "I'll have to check once more on one of my patients," she explained finally, "But, if Ino and Hinata are free by midday, I'll perform it then…and you'll need to be on strict bed rest after the surgery, while we make an antidote, and even after. This treatment will be long term, and that'll mean months of taking the antidote as a medicine; it won't work immediately like most will, and you'll probably need to come in every few weeks or so for a checkup."

"Arigatou," he breathed, squeezing her hand.

Mito blushed slightly at how grateful he was. "Genma-sempai mentioned your illness once in passing…consider it a favor from a friend. Now don't eat anything until the surgery, only fluids, so I suppose a broth would do… I'll send word when we're ready for you."

She wrenched the door open and Matsuri fell backwards on the other side. Mito cocked an eyebrow at her apprentice. "Hello, Matsuri, eavesdropping again?"

The brunette blushed brightly. "Not at all, Shishou, I just came to tell you that the patient's vitals are normal, but he's still in a coma."

"That is as can be expected," Mito said with a sigh, shutting the door behind her, leaving the pair to their privacy. "All we can do for now is wait and hope. Come on, let us find my wayward apprentices; I have a job for the three of you."

* * *

"You could've told me, you baka!" Ino yelled at Shikamaru, aiming a kick at his head, only to be blocked, though he skidded a good bit. "But, no! You had to hog her all day!"

"I wasn't hogging her!" Shikamaru complained. "She just dropped by for a small visit!"

"Excuses!" Ino growled as Shikamaru blocked another of her strikes. "Just 'cause you've got the hots for her, you get first dibs?! Best friends come first!" She stamped her foot on the ground for emphasis, making a small crater (Asuma stared at her, gaping).

"So, it would still be me, then?" Shikamaru really should've watched his mouth.

Ino kicked him viciously, before angrily pointing at Chouji. "Hey, Chouji! This makes it seem like Shikamaru is my only opponent!"

Shikamaru turned to face him as well as he bowed his head. "But, it's gonna hurt, you know. I'm strong and I don't wanna hurt you two."

"What makes you think you're better!" Ino snapped, irritation and annoyance seeping into her voice. "Go ahead, try and hurt us!"

Asuma winced as Ino proceeded to bruise the Akimichi, yelling all the while…well, no one had said she wasn't headstrong, that's for sure.

Shikamaru blew out a breath tiredly. "Damn it…this is troublesome."

"Chouji, are you being gentle because they're your friends?" Asuma asked as he stood, earning surprised looks from Ino and Shikamaru.

"Asuma-sensei…"

"If that's the case," the Sarutobi Head continued, ignoring Shikamaru, "then you're wrong. Sparring with a stronger partner will only help to make them stronger as well." His chestnut eyes swept over Shikamaru and Ino; Shikamaru was no hard hitter, and he wasn't really sure about Ino…she was more than she let on, reminding him a little of Mito, they did seem to be friends.

"You don't get it?" he asked, slowly walking forward, raising his fists. "Then I'll show you. We're going to spar right now. If you're able to strike me, you pass. But if you're not able to hit me in one hour, Chouji…not just you, but Ino and Shikamaru will be sent back to the academy."

The effect was instantaneous as a surprised expression morphed onto Ino and Shikamaru's faces.

"Huh? No fair!" Ino whined.

"Think of me as the enemy and charge, for their sake too," Asuma instructed. "Transform your kindness into power." And then he threw a punch, and then another. Ino's eyes softened as Chouji dodged every blow, while throwing none of his own. If there was one thing Akimichi Chouji could be commended for, it would be his kind heart.

"What's the matter, Chouji?" Asuma demanded. "Do you want the three of you to go back to the Academy?"

Chouji didn't offer a reply to that, only stepping backwards and out of harm.

Ino sighed softly. "I wonder if he'll do it?"

"Fight, Chouji, you coward!" Asuma commanded, his fist connecting with Chouji's upraised arms, not budging no matter how many times he was hit.

"That's not the way," Shikamaru said, "It'll only backfire."

"Huh?"

"It's not because Chouji's scared," Shikamaru explained. "He doesn't want to hurt Asuma the way he's hurting now. He's very kind, down to his very core."

"But as it is," Ino said, watching the pair intently.

"We have no choice," Shikamaru muttered, raising his voice slightly to yell at his best friend. "Hey, Chouji! Enough already, you fatso!"

"Urk!" Ino sweat dropped at the insult that was well known as taboo to the young Akimichi. Saying that word was practically a death sentence.

Chouji froze, turning to face Shikamaru. "Shikamaru…did you just say 'fatso'?"

Shikamaru's voice came out a bit strained. Mito giggled behind the tree she had Shunshined to only moments before with Matsuri, almost giving them away when Ino glanced into the foliage. "Yeah…I said 'fatso'. That's what Asuma-sensei said."

It was a bit on the devious side that even Asuma looked slightly taken aback, even as Chouji turned back to face him. "Really…Asuma-sensei?"

"Y-Yeah." Clearly the Sarutobi knew he was treading on thin ice.

Ino added onto Shikamaru's earlier insult. "Hai! He said that a fatso like you wouldn't be able to punch him!"

"You're going overboard, Ino," Shikamaru mentioned as Chouji trembled with anger.

"I don't care if you're my sensei." He growled. "Anyone who calls me 'fatso' is gonna get it!" And at last, he threw a punch, but at the last second he came to his senses and froze, his fist inches away from Asuma's flak jacket. He straightened up, murmuring an apology, tears welling in his eyes. "I can't hit you after all, Sensei." He threw his arm over his eyes hiding the tears but his voice was shaking, so it gave him away. "But…but, please just send me back to the Academy. Please don't punish Shikamaru and Ino." And then he began to sob in earnest.

"I understand, Chouji." Asuma dropped a tan hand to Chouji's head. "It's my loss." Chouji removed his arm from his eyes to stare up at his sensei. "No matter how angry you are, you are able to suppress it and think of your opponent. You have true kindness within you." At the surprise in his eyes, Asuma allowed himself a small smile, continuing on. "I want you to continue to nurture that kindness. Someday, it will become your strength." He removed the hand that had been resting on Chouji's head to scratch his nose. "But, you know, when you are sparring…"

"I know!" Chouji said cheerfully. "I don't want to beat people like you or Shikamaru or Ino or my friends from the village. But if I'm up against anyone who hurts them, I'll fight them." His eyes glinted as he stared over at his childhood friends. "Even if Shikamaru and Ino keep calling me 'fatso'." He grumbled as he made his way towards them, his expression downright evil, and Mito was given the impression that if push came to shove, Shikamaru and Ino would be the ones running.

"By the way," Asuma said calmly, settling his hand on Chouji's shoulder, "Shikamaru and Ino, Chouji isn't fat. He's just pleasingly plump."

Chouji's cheeks pinked as he grinned.

"Oi!" Asuma raised his voice suddenly, causing his stunned students to jump slightly. "They pass, so why don't you come out?"

"But hiding in the trees is my forte, Asuma-sensei," a familiar voice complained.

Ino stared at Senju Mito as she gripped Shikamaru's hand, jumping down from the tree stump to land beside him, followed closely by a brunette she didn't recognize. She smiled congenially. "However, I look forward to seeing them in action."

Before she could say anymore, she found her vision obscured by light colored hair. She stumbled slightly before falling flat against the ground. "Ino," she groaned, "I think you punctured my spleen…"

"Oh, sorry!" Ino apologized quickly, getting off her and helping her to her feet. "Damn, girl! You look hot! No wonder Shikamaru was all for keeping you to himself!" Shikamaru made an irritated sound in the back of his throat, turning away from the two girls. Mito had traded in her casual wear that she had worn the last time they had seen her for a simple white sleeveless short kimono with fishnets covering her thighs, a haori covering her shoulders, and high-heeled kunoichi sandals. Part of her fashion sense had rubbed off on Ino, because underneath the blonde's arm warmers and her newly acquired leg warmers, were her concealed arm and shin guards.

"I do?" Mito asked blankly; being attractive was not something she cared about. She looked down at herself in confusion, then she glanced at Shikamaru who smirked slightly.

"Psh, don't worry about it," Ino said, waving her hand callously. "How've you been, Mito?"

"Good," Mito admitted, a wry smile warping her face. "So, tell me, Ino, have you gotten better since our last spar?"

"Hell yeah!" Ino pumped her fists. "Watch this!" She raised her fist and struck it against a nearby tree, shattering it at the middle and sending the top half several feet away. Asuma's eyes bugged out slightly at the showcase of raw strength, but Chouji and Shikamaru didn't seem too surprised.

"Not bad," Mito admitted, inspecting the tree. "You're farther along than I'd expected…but then you always seem to surpass my expectations."

Ino positively beamed, even as Mito turned to give Chouji a small hug. "Hey, Chouji, you've grown." She whispered into his ear, "It doesn't matter if someone's thin or fat, you'll find out that size doesn't really matter."

"Hai, Mito," Chouji agreed, squeezing her back, before releasing her. "It's been boring around here without you."

She laughed. "Now, I doubt that. Naruto's probably kept you all on your toes."

"No doubt about that," Shikamaru groaned. "There's no peace and quiet."

"Shikamaru-kun," Mito said playfully, rolling her eyes as she gripped the front of Shikamaru's jacket. "If you had wanted peace and quiet, you would have stayed in your own lands."

"Tch," Shikamaru complained. "It's troublesome when you know all my tricks."

"Who else is going to challenge you to shogi and go?" she countered easily with that foxy grin of hers. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, leaving Ino groaning in disappointment.

"Come on, you guys," she complained. "You're the only couple our age! The least you could do is give us some lip lock action!"

Shikamaru's cheeks only burned slightly, but Mito's bypassed that and went completely tomato. Matsuri took a step forward in case she had to catch her Shishou if she fainted.

"You're annoying," Shikamaru decided, pulling Mito to the side, wrapping an arm protectively around her waist. "Can't you leave her alone for one minute?"

Ino stuck out her tongue, muttering, "Hogger."

"I –um- need to borrow Ino at twelve," Mito interjected as the two glared daggers at each other, speaking to their Jounin sensei. "Will that be alright?"

Asuma stroked his beard contemplatively while Ino shot Mito a curious glance. "That's fine," he assured her. "What did you need her for?"

She winked at him. "That's for Ino to say, I'm afraid."

"Whose your friend?" Ino added, nodding to the small brunette that seemed caught between coming close or staying away.

"This is Matsuri, my apprentice from Suna," Mito introduced proudly, "and and Fuu have been training under me for the past months. Fuu's in Kiri right now, but you'll meet her in a few months."

"Nice to meet you," Ino said kindly to the silent girl who reminded her a little of Hinata, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, I'm the first person who learned medical ninjutsu from Mito, but don't tell anyone that, alright?"

Matsuri glanced at Mito who gave her a conspirator wink. "Alright."

"Basically, Ino's one of the best," Mito explained, "so if you need any advice or help and I'm not around, go to this girl."

Ino preened under the compliment.

"Wait, you know medical ninjutsu?" Asuma said in surprise, staring at his female student in surprise.

All the kids –except Matsuri who was looking a little overwhelmed- made a loud "Sh!" noise.

"Come on, Asuma-sensei, can't you keep a secret?" Ino complained.

Asuma spluttered, while the Genin just laughed.


	7. More Than They Seem

Searching for Hyuuga Hinata wasn't as difficult as one might think, but Mito had glanced over the Hokage's reports and saw which training field had been assigned to Team Eight, so that made it much easier.

"Hinata's a bit quieter," Mito told Matsuri as they walked, noticing how tense her apprentice's shoulders were, "a bit like you when you started out, only more formal, I guess."

Matsuri nodded silently at her side. Honestly, after hearing so many stories about Mito's other apprentices she was a bit surprised by how they looked. Of course, Mito looked too sweet to hold on her own, but Ino was very pretty as well, and that had been a surprise. Mito had never actually described her, but she hadn't anticipated her to be a green-blue eyed blonde with a feral grin better than Fuu's. Compared to them, to their beauty, Matsuri couldn't really hold on her own.

"Did you like Ino?" Mito's voice brought her out of her musing.

"Oh! Yeah, she was nice," Matsuri said a bit helplessly.

"That's good," Mito said with a smile as they went around the next corner. "She can be a little…abrasive, but Hinata's very calm, you'll like her."

That didn't really make her feel better. Matsuri felt nervous about meeting her old apprentices in general because they had known her longer than she ever had and were doubly farther along than she was; she'd never catch up.

"Don't worry, Hinata's a bit behind in medical ninjutsu training since she's been focusing a lot of her time on her Juuken," Mito interrupted her thoughts as if reading her mind.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Mito said with a slight smile, "at least, that's what Ino says."

They entered the training ground to find three small thirteen year old Genins conversing with their new instructor. Mito recognized the woman from before. Her eyes reminded Mito a little of the Sharingan that the Uchiha were renowned for possessing, but there was obvious differences there. The red orbs lifted as she spoke.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Yuuhi Kurenai looked over the Senju heir. "Not at all. I didn't get the chance to introduce myself the last time we saw each other, I'm –"

"Yuuhi Kurenai, yes, I know," Mito smiled as she slid her palm against the woman's. "You're the best Genjutsu user in the village. I'm Senju Mito, Shikaku-sensei's only apprentice." She grinned a bit as she said this.

"Proud of that fact, are you?" Kurenai asked with a raised eyebrow, the two ignoring the three Genin with ease.

"Of course," she said with a smile, "he's a great man and an even better teacher."

Her hand released the woman's and her attention shifted to Hinata who was still as short as she was, but her indigo hair had grown out and was held back in a low ponytail. "Hey, Hinata! I love the hair!"

Predictably, Hinata blushed, though it was only a slight pink (Mito suspected that it would have been darker had it been Naruto paying her that compliment). "I like yours as well, Mito-san."

Mito rolled her eyes at the formality. She nodded to the Inuzuka. "Hey, Kiba, how's your sister been?"

"Same old, same old," Kiba said with a wild grin that spoke volumes about his personality. "I reckon once she finds out you're back, she'll come around for a surprise visit."

Mito laughed out loud. "I look forward to it." Her attention was then drawn to the last member of Squad Eight and by far the most quiet. Aburame Shino. She could see a lot of Komachi in him, in that has very calm and quiet, but Komachi also had a tendency to speak out, something many Aburames did rarely.

"You must be Shibi-san's son," she said, holding out a hand, surprising him; most people didn't want to touch his clan, as their bodies were hosts to insects. He shook it, giving a slight nod. "You look a lot like him."

"Thank you," the boy said in the monotonous voice typical of the Aburame. "You were my cousin Komachi's ANBU partner."

Mito froze and then her shoulders sagged minuscule. "Yes, I was."

Shino withdrew a small scroll. "She told me to give you this if she ever died on the field."

Shock colored her violet orbs as she took the scroll from the son of Shibi. "A-Arigatou."

Shino was the only one who noticed how her frame trembled ever so slightly, but then she stuffed into the pocket of her haori. She took a deep breath, mentally calming herself before speaking once more.

"I've actually come here about Hinata," Mito said, turning her attention back to the Jounin who looked faintly bemused. "I'd like to borrow her for a surgery."

That surprised Kurenai. A surgery? "Why would-"

"Hinata may not be the most vocal of my apprentices," Mito continued, speaking over her, "but even if she is behind on medical ninjutsu, she is still rather good." Mito glanced to Hinata who was blushing again. "I'm going to need her help in a poison extraction at twelve, if you aren't busy?"

"Not at all," Kurenai said in response. She hadn't been aware that Hinata knew medical ninjutsu.

"Good!" Mito beamed. "Oh, yeah, Hinata, this is Matsuri, she'll be studying with me for the next few months, and you won't meet Fuu until she gets back from Kiri."

Hinata smiled kindly to the silent brunette who had waved shyly. "Hello, Matsuri-san. Have you been enjoying learning from Mito?"

Matsuri nodded fervently. "She's a great teacher."

Hinata gave her an understanding smile that made Matsuri's cheeks burn.

"See you then," Mito said, "Matsuri and I need to pick up a few things, and then we'll be meet you at the hospital."

* * *

"Miso soup for the two Swordsman Lovebirds!"

Yuugao and Hayate tried very hard not to stare as the daughter of the Head of the T&I Department practically danced to their sides, holding a plastic bowl for each of them. "I'm sorry…what?" Yuugao asked in confusion.

Yamanaka Ino rolled her eyes for good measure. "Soup, you eat it. Mito said only liquids before the surgery, right?"

"How did you-?" Yuugao started to ask in surprise, but the blonde waved off her question, practically dumping the soup bowls in their laps.

"You didn't think she would be doing it alone, did you?" Ino queried with a wide grin. "She's gotten a few of us to assist."

"You're a friend of hers, aren't you?" Yuugao asked as her boyfriend slurped his soup beside her; he was going to need all the strength he could get. "Can I ask you something about her?"

"You can ask, but I don't have to be obliged to answer." That was Inoichi's witty tongue that she had inherited.

"She said that she heard about Hayate's illness from Genma, but I just spoke to him, and he never mentioned it to her." Yuugao's eyes fastened on Ino's. "Why would she lie about that?"

The newly-named Genin gave a tired sigh. "The thing about Mito," she said finally, "is that she is the most selfless person I've met, so that leaves you two options: one, she has seen and heard how Hayate-san suffers and wanted to help out, or two, she knew the maker of the poison and feels responsible."

The higher possibility was of it being the latter, Yuugao knew; Mito knew a little too much about the composition of poisons.

"Anyways," Ino said suddenly, drawing her back to the present, "Mito's off reserving a room for Hayate-san's surgery, of sorts, but, unfortunately you'll have to wait out here."

"What? Why?" Yuugao demanded frantically.

"Medic-nins only," Ino said with a shrug. "Trust me, he's in the best hands possible."

Hayate who had been silent during this whole exchange gazed at her intently. She sounded very confident, but then that was to be expected of Inoichi's only child. She wasn't at all like she was portrayed to be: an avid fan girl of Uchiha Sasuke and quite weak. He could see through her arm warmers as she moved, catching sight of the old arm guards beneath them. She caught him looking and spared him a quick wink.

"Ino!"

Yuugao barely had time to see Mito dressed in medical scrubs before the girl vanished down the hallway in a flash of red, living up to the name Akai Senkou.

"Time to go," Ino said helpfully, holding out a hand to Hayate. "Ready?"

"As ready –cough- as I'll ever be," the man rasped, taking her hand with his clammy one and allowing himself to be led down the hall and into a private surgery room, though it wasn't set up like any surgery room he'd seen, with only a stationary platform and a cart filled with wide-rimmed containers filled with an off-white transparent liquid.

Mito had appeared at his side, almost as if by magic. "Gekkou-san," she said, a respectful as always, "I'm going to explain the procedure to you before we begin, if that's alright?"

He nodded. He would feel much better if he knew how everything was going to go.

"The method I'm going to be using is the **Saiken Chuushutsu no Jutsu (Delicate Illness Extraction Technique** ), it's not very well known and is very difficult. I am going to make an incision that leads directly into your blood flow. I will push this medicinal fluid into your body, using my chakra to absorb the poison, and then remove it through the incision. I can promise you that this will be incredibly painful, and I'm going to need a lot of the poison, so if you're still ready to do this, I'm going to need you to take off your shirt and bite into this."

She was holding out a cylinder of rubber so that his screams would be muffled.

Hayate nodded, pulling his shirt from his back and biting down on the rubber as he was guided back onto the platform.

"Ino, hold down his shoulders," Mito instructed, "Hinata and Matsuri, either leg will do."

The three girls did as was requested of them as Mito channeled her chakra into the palm of her hand, making the fluid stick to her hand as if it was a bubble.

"Get ready," she told them as she pressed it into his skin.

As expected, he buckled under the touch, spasming violently at the invasive substance and chakra entering his body.

"Hold him!" she snapped and they complied as she pressed the bubble completely into his body.

Ino remembered Mito telling her about this form of substance removal, how it was used to remove poison for antidote development (which was what they were doing right now). She had once had to memorize the medicinal herbs that went into the fluid that Mito was currently pressing into his body. She could hear Mito's voice in her head, explaining further: "Insert chakra into the body, draw the poison from the cells. Absorb them into the solution, and extract the poison."

Mito's other hand that had been placed onto the incision she's made on his left side lifted, taking the solution and poison through the incision.

Matsuri stared at the poison in surprise. She honestly hadn't been expecting her master to get so much from a person who'd had it in their system for over a decade, but the misshapen blobs the color of mud suspended in the fluid were impressive.

"Get me the next one, Matsuri!" she barked, releasing her chakra so that the fluid and poison splashed back into the container.

"Hai!" Matsuri switched the poison-filled container with one that empty of it.

They continued until the five containers held the now-tainted fluid.

"Hinata, get a gurney," Mito commanded the shyest of her apprentices and the Hyuuga did so, pulling it up beside where their patient now lay in exhaustive sleep, though she noticed he was breathing much better. She couldn't help but smile in relief as Gekkou Hayate slumbered peacefully for the first time in a very long time.

So, they wheeled him out of the room and into one of his own, with his extremely worried girlfriend by his side the whole way.

It wasn't much later that Mito found herself completely silent as she fiddled with her microscope, closing in on the sample of lung she'd taken from Hayate moments before. The blood cells were a pick of mutated and non-mutated cells. Her heart stuttered slightly. "Oh my."

"What is it?!" Yuugao's kagebunshin was slightly on the frantic side, out of her mind with worry at those two words (she'd created it so that she could remain in the loop, but at the same time remain by her boyfriend's side). "What did you find?!"

"It's nothing bad," Mito assured her, "it's just that I've seen results similar to this, only on me." Her eyes shifted to Ino whose eyes had lit with realization. "Back when I was blind. This actually makes it easier to make an antidote, because I memorized the compound and its antidote." She began to mumble to herself. "Judging by the redness of the blood, the ratio of silicates to nightshade is imbalanced, so…" She slid open a scroll, squirting a small amount of blood onto the scroll, while mixing together an assortment of herbs, only about half that Hinata and Ino could recognize, a minute later coming up with a thick brown substance. Using a glass stirring stick, she dribbled a drop onto the blood which had been placed in a sealing scroll that all medic-nins used for identifying whether or not antidotes could completely cure their poisons, causing it to evaporate.

Mito brightened visibly, measuring about a third into a small cup and flouncing off to Hayate's room, followed by her entourage. "Hayate-san," she sang, "Are you awake?"

As it happened, he was, having been a light sleeper because of his illness, and he took the medicine obediently.

"How do you feel?" Mito inquired after a minute had passed since the ingestion, eyeing his complexion which was not quite as sallow-white as it was mere seconds before. "Lightheaded? Breathing alright?"

His eyebrows creased together as he thought hard, breathing in and out slowly to ascertain his ability to breathe. "Better than bef- cough- ore," he admitted, a smile breaking out across his face, seeming to melt years off his face. "You succeeded."

"You're going to have to stay here for a couple days," Mito said, turning her head once more to the overjoyed pair, "but I'll refer you to a doctor who'll create a treatment plan for you."

Yuugao burst into tears, flinging her arms around her boyfriend's neck, her whole body shaking with the sobs that were muffled against his neck.

Mito allowed them to have their moment, sparing a grin to her three apprentices. "Great work, you three, I'm very impressed with your progress!"

Hinata blushed heavily at the praise, ducking her head shyly, but as her hair had grown out and was now restrained in a tight, low ponytail, she could not hide behind a curtain of her indigo hair –one of the many things Mito had required of her when she first started training under her. Ino and Matsuri, on the other hand, beamed with pride.

"As expected of the best Konoha and Suna has to offer," she added quietly, her soft smile completely genuine as she pulled the new Genin into her arms. "I missed you guys."

"You leave that long again and I'll kill you!" Ino threatened her lightly, squeezing her tightly, a contrast with Hinata's gentle embrace as she nodded hesitantly, most likely thinking of words less violent than Ino's. Mito chuckled slightly at the insult as she pulled back from them.

"You could try," she said, quirking her lips slightly, "I don't think you'd want to experience the new tricks I've learned…"

Ino grinned at the challenge.

* * *

"They keep looking at me," Matsuri whispered to Mito as they moved through the streets later that day, the bags of food in Mito's hands colliding every so often with her legs. "Why do they do that?" She was of course speaking of the contrasting curious and hateful stares that the villagers often wore in the presence of either Mito or Naruto.

"Because you are with me, brat," Mito said almost affectionately, "the villagers stare at everyone I go out with."

"Even Shikamaru-san?" Matsuri asked slyly.

Mito coughed, her cheeks dusting a faint pink at the mention of her lazy boyfriend. "Even Shikamaru-kun."

"Are you going to see him today?" Matsuri asked with a wide smile. She thought her master and Shikamaru were very cute together, even if they weren't very obvious of their relationship. She sighed longingly, wishing for a relationship like that in the future.

"No, actually," Mito admitted, "the Head of the Hyuuga Clan's coming to our place for tea."

"Is he…?" Matsuri guessed without completely asking the question, as they were in a public place. Is he familiar with Hyuuga Hizashi?

Mito nodded.

They came around a bend in time to see a man clothed in a white kimono stop at the entrance to the compound. Matsuri stared; did Hyuuga Hizashi have a twin brother, or something? This man was completely identical to their comatose patient in every way, though the pale eyes and severe expression made her want to choose Hizashi over this man any day, even if the man was in induced sleep.

"I apologize for my tardiness, Hiashi-sama," Mito said, speaking in that cultured way she did, her voice adding to her formality as she gave a respectful bow to the older man. Matsuri noticed how he bowed in return, maybe even a bit lower than Mito, an indication of her status, no doubt. "I hope you were not waiting on us too long?"

"Not very long," Hyuuga Hiashi assured her, inclining his head slightly. "I understand you have been very busy lately and that this is an intrusion into your time as well as mine."

"Not so intrusive on my end," Mito returned easily, "besides, this is important, concerning your family…please, come in."

Hiashi only spared Mito's slim companion a miniscule glance before following the girl inside, joining her for a cup of tea.

"Your…messenger…mentioned that you had something of grave importance you wished to share with me?" he inquired after taking a small sip.

Mito winced slightly; she'd recently employed Bunseki as a ninja tanuki. The job had its ups and downs, but the raccoon-dog was entirely too cheerful for the line of work his father had asked him to do. Mito wasn't even sure why she'd agreed to it in the first place…she was probably drunk, not that she drank…or tired. Yeah, it must have been that she was tired.

"I have to speak to you concerning two matters," Mito admitted, nodding barely to her apprentice who excused herself to check up on their patient who was currently unaware in his medical bed that the Hokage had acquired for him only thirty hours previously. "The first is this." In her hand, she reverently held a scroll that fit snugly into her palm, yellow-golden in color, simple, even with the brown strong that held it together. "This scroll contains the personal effects of one Hyuuga Kouga." She watched with quiet interest as Hiashi went stock-still at the name of his father. "He was a fine man, you must be proud," she said quietly, "he served as a councilor to the Kazekage until his death…he was the man who raised me… it is only right that his son receive his possessions."

Hiashi found that his tongue to longer functioned. The fact that his father had even been alive at the time that she was suggesting was…hard to believe. He had been told that his father had fallen in battle months after his and Hizashi's birth, but that seemed to be yet another lie from the elders of his family. Somehow, the fact that he had survived and lived out his days in Suna didn't seem to be as far of a stretch as one would think.

"I…see," he spoke finally, a great deal more subdued than before. "My family is in your debt-"

Mito stalled his speech with a raised hand, looking distinctly uncomfortable and embarrassed. "There is no need for that, besides, I have something I require your assistance in."

That piqued his interest. Mito had a habit of doing things herself rather than asking for help, it wasn't that she wasn't confident in the abilities of others, but more that she preferred to do things on her own. For her to ask for help was remarkably strange.

"Do me this one favor and we'll be square, I swear," Mito promised, the tea scalding her throat as she downed it in one gulp, her cheeks flushing pink from the heat of the liquid. "I want you to activate your Byakugan and tell me who is in this compound apart from us."

His eyebrow rose at such an odd request, but he did as she suggested, narrowing this eyes into his family's bloodline limit, the Byakugan, focusing beyond Mito and her oddly mixed chakra system to the edge room in which two-

He reeled back suddenly, almost falling in his haste to stand, shaken completely to his core, and like all males, he displayed his fear in anger.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he demanded, his question almost becoming a snarl as his eyes flashed dangerously to the girl who was calmly examining her nails. "That is not-!"

"Hm, it seems like it is," Mito said in that annoyingly mild voice of hers, placing her empty cup back onto the heavy wooden table. "Hiashi-sama, let me be clear on this aspect." Her eyes turned so dark that they were almost a red-violet. "When I do things, I assure you," her voice had dropped so that it was almost a purr, adding to the danger factor she happened to be oozing, "I do them for a _reason._ Concerning your brother –as you have just identified him to be such- I picked him up in Kumo, he was the –ah- payment for a service I provided for the Raikage."

Hiashi had half the mind to inquire as to what that service was but thought better of it. Besides, he doubted she had left Kumo without signing a silence agreement, so either way he would not be hearing how it had happened.

"I can't allow you to speak about his status with anyone, I'm afraid," Mito continued apologetically. "Not even his son," she added, catching the defiant look on his face. "I can't even be sure if he is even going to wake up from this coma and until he does, I cannot allow you to see him, but the good news is that you have confirmed his identity."

She was being deliberately annoying wasn't she? It was like dangling a piece of candy in front of a child and then telling them they couldn't have it. Hiashi's eye twitched slightly, but otherwise gave no indication of his annoyance with the girl who smirked into her second cup of tea.

"You're excused," she added with a smile when he remained sitting across from her, and continued to give him that eerie smile until he had left. However, once he had done so, a puff of smoke appeared before Mito.

"Senju-sama." The ANBU member bowed and then he held out a small scroll.

Mito took it without question, frowning at the contents. "I was under the impression that Hokage-sama wished for me to remain in-village for the time being."

"He has changed his mind," the ANBU said in a monotonous voice, "your presence is required."

Mito sighed tiredly. "Will you tell Hokage-sama that I'll be along shortly?"

"Affirmative." And he disappeared once more.

"Shishou?"

Matsuri had reappeared soon enough to notice the smoke that followed the Shunshin. "Shishou, who was that?"

"A member of the Hokage's ANBU." Mito burned the scroll with a mild Katon jutsu. "I'm needed for a high classed op."

"You're leaving already?" Matsuri said, her eyes sad.

Mito sighed tiredly. "I hadn't been expected to go back on full-time duty for quite some time," she said honestly, "I wanted more time to teach you and help Hinata and Ino and Naruto, but duty calls."

Her ANBU uniform had been gathering dust in her room, but, at the same time, she wasn't quite so eager to put it on again. Yet, she found herself dressed in it in a matter of minutes, standing before the mirror. Her ANBU uniform was the standard black, though hers fit her body better than any of the other members' clothes did, sleeveless and displaying the red tattoos on her upper arms. Her chest protector was white as opposed to the grey most wore and was of a lighter material than the others so that she would be able to move quicker.

Matsuri thought she looked very impressive, albeit maybe a bit cold and detached, like her porcelain mask.

"I'm going to have you stay at Ino's place for the duration of my mission," Mito said as she tied her long bangs behind her head, leaving the rest of her locks free-flowing to Matsuri's surprise, as she had often seen them pinned back. "She can give you pointers on medical ninjutsu, if nothing else; is that alright?"

"Um…fine, I guess," Matsuri muttered. "She's nice." She peered up at Mito as the girl placed the Tanuki mask over her face. "You'll be alright, won't you?"

"I hope so."

* * *

Matsuri felt a little embarrassed as she held onto Ino's hand as they wandered through the village the next day with Ino telling her where everything was and the best places to eat.

"Ichiraku Ramen's Naruto's preferred hangout," Ino said, pointing towards the front of the village where a small bar could be seen hidden by short hanging cloths, "but whenever we go out, we usually head over to Yakiniku Q's BBQ; Mito and Chouji are seriously addicted to the meat they cook."

"How long have you known Shishou?" Matsuri blurted out, blushing darkly at how rude it sounded.

"Oh, just a couple of years," Ino said with a grin. "She's great, isn't she?"

Matsuri nodded silently.

Ino laughed. "She's very focused on her art, if nothing else but that's not always a good thing."

Matsuri furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked befuddled.

Ino's lips twitched upwards into a wry smile. "Well, she sometimes disregards her own well-being, and for a medic-nin, that's not really a good trait to have."

"Do you have it?"

Ino glanced downwards slightly to meet her eyes, surprise coloring her blue-green orbs, meeting that pair of onyx eyes that held more emotion than Sasuke's. "Not nearly as much as her," she said. "Mito's one of a kind."

Matsuri smiled slightly at that.

"She must have seen a lot of promise to take you on," Ino continued, "do you have a Kekkei Genkai? Or is your chakra just very refined?"

"A bit of both," Matsuri admitted. "She originally decided to accept me as her apprentice because of my chakra control, but I only found out a couple months ago that I have the Jiton-"

"Magnet Style?" Ino asked, sounding impressed. "I've barely heard of it…is it common where you're from?"

"Hardly," Matsuri said, "the only user of it in the sand was my grandfather, the Sandaime Kazekage, but Shishou's father, the Yondaime Kazekage, can use a variation of it."

Ino stumbled to a stop. "What a second…did you just say that Mito's dad's the Kazekage?"

Matsuri blinked, staring at her oddly. "Didn't she tell you?"

"No," Ino said, sounding a little insulted.

"She doesn't like him very much," Matsuri admitted, "I don't think he made a very good father, she seems more like her sensei's daughter than anything else."

The blonde chuckled lightly. Mito and Shikaku's teacher-student relationship was probably one of the best in the village, so much so that people were actually beginning to think that they were related. "Shikaku-oji's great; he was the first person she met in the village, did you know?" Matsuri shook her head. "Yeah, he saw her in the hospital and they just started talking about nothing in particular. He's the one she probably trusts the most."

"What about Shikamaru-san?" Matsuri prompted as they rounded a bend.

"Shikamaru ranks pretty high up," Ino had to agree, "but his father's known her longer, regardless."

Matsuri frowned thoughtfully, releasing the older girl's hand as they came out to an area that was free of the bustling crowd. "Why does everyone look at her like…" _Like she's some sort of monster._

This time, Ino's smile was sad, very sad. "The same reason people look at Naruto the same way…maybe she'll tell you about it one day-"

"Hey, Ino-pig!"

Ino's eyebrow twitched at the insult from her old childhood friend. Haruno Sakura didn't look very impressive, and she knew she wasn't going to change unless she was the ninja the world the way it was: bloody and dangerous. It wasn't nearly as cut and dry as the Academy Sensei made it seem, but it wasn't like she was going to understand _that_ for a while.

Matsuri eyed her with distaste. Sure, she'd seen exotic features, since Fuu's hair was sea-green and her eyes were a bright orange, and Mito's red hair was rather uncommon and her purple eyes unheard of, but she had never seen someone like Sakura before in her life. She had pink hair! _Pink!_ What kind of person had _pink hair_?!

"Forehead-girl," Ino said, wrinkling her nose slightly at how bright the red of her "rival's" dress was. It was almost as bad as Naruto's orange jumpsuit, "what d'you want?"

"What're you doing here?" Sakura demanded instead, crossing her arms, her jade eyes colored with irritation.

Ino cleared her throat, expertly hiding a cough. "Seeing as my training ground is just behind you…"

Sakura's cheeks enflamed with color, but she had only herself to blame; she really had just walked into that one. She jutted out her chin slightly towards the shorter brunette. "Who's that?"

"This is Matsuri," Ino said, "she's the apprentice of a friends of mine and she's staying with me while her sensei's on a mission…now if you'll excuse us-"

Ino pressed her hand into Matsuri's back, urging her forward and past the pinkette.

"Who was that?" Matsuri asked once they were out of earshot.

"Haruno Sakura," Ino said glumly, "we used to be best friends, and then we started crushing on the same guy and that kind of ruined our friendship…I was a total flake until I met Mito and then I started taking training seriously."

"That's good, right?" Matsuri prodded.

Ino grinned. "Yeah, she showed me how I could make something of myself."

Matsuri found herself staring at the girl. Sure, Ino was a pretty face, but she was also powerful…Matsuri couldn't imagine someone changing so much in the amount of time she had described, but Mito was capable of shoving reality into your face with such force that sometimes it hurt a little to hear the truth of it.

And She was going to make her proud, even if it killed her.


	8. Resignation

Mito watched the fire flicker and crackle in the night. It was her turn to watch, so she had several kagebunshin guarding in several different directions while Shikaku slumbered as peacefully as he could on a mission that was classed as an S-rank. Mito didn't do as many S-ranks as one would think in ANBU, her missions were mostly A-ranks with a few S-ranks here and there. She specialized in assassinations, particularly decapitations. It wasn't really something to be proud of, which was why she never mentioned it to her friends.

Mito sighed softly, withdrawing the small scroll that Shino had given her, the scroll that had Komachi's writing on it; the scroll that held her last words to her faithful partner. Mito, at long last, untied the string that secured it and read the contents silently.

_Mito-chan, if you've been given this, then I'm dead. And I'm so sorry, I am so very sorry that you had to find out this way. I've really enjoyed this life that we've led, Mito-chan, just you and me, kicking ass, saving the world from behind the scenes…but it's not the best life, I'm sure you realize. The reason I'm writing this letter, Mito-chan, is because I want you to do one last thing for me._

_I want you to leave the ANBU Corps._ A confused frown marred Mito's lips.

 _Some people can shine amongst the elite, but some need the sunlight to grow and develop and flourish, you being one of the latter. Being in ANBU has sapped you of your vitality, Mito-chan, even Shikaku-sama can see it. Leave ANBU behind, close that chapter of your life and switch to Genin! Your skill-set is so superior that you'll be up to Chuunin in no time! And you'll get to see Shikaku-sama and Shikamaru-san all the time, so that'll be a plus!_ The corner of Mito's mouth twitched and she resisted laughing.

_You have big dreams, and I know you can reach them, but not in the shadows, that's not where Senju Mito belongs._

_She belongs in the sunlight._

_-Komachi_

Mito could feel the hot tears streaming down her cheeks but she didn't move to wipe them, gently placing the scroll in the fire, letting it take Aburame Komachi's words into the next life.

Despite reading Komachi's words –and they were her words, there was no mistake of that– Mito could not bring herself to remove the porcelain mask that covered her face, hiding her inner turmoil from view. She did bring up a lot of good points, but that was Komachi for you; analysis was –had been– one of her strong points, even if strategy was something that Mito excelled in.

The silence was deafening, like it always was, but sleep would not overtake her. Mito remembered a time when she had lived in fear of sleep, in fear of Shukaku awakening and wreaking havoc like he had done with Gaara, but that time was done. She pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling the warmth of the seal. She and Shukaku didn't really get along, but they weren't exactly at each other's throats like they used to be. They were a long way from being best friends, but the distance from allies wasn't so great.

She tensed suddenly at the sound of a branch breaking in the quiet. One hand sign later and she had substituted herself for one of her kagebunshin the one that was closest to the noise, but she had to move quickly to avoid being seen by the noisemaker once she had caught sight of their coat. It was black with a pattern of red clouds. The Akatsuki.

The ones who had removed Choumei from Fuu, though not the exact members; this was not Uchiha Itachi or Hoshigaki Kisame. These two were far slighter it appeared, conversing in low voices, only one of which she recognized.

Her breath caught in her throat at Akasuna no Sasori's soft voice that didn't fit his reputation at all. He was speaking about art, or more like arguing about art. Mito couldn't help but wrinkle her nose slightly; art was something he believed to be long-lasting, while his friend thought art was an explosion, however she had to agree with Sasori there. She breathed in sharply when he spared a quick glance back, but he didn't seem to notice her.

She gulped lightly. How far she'd come, to hiding from masters… Sasori's ring bit into her finger as she clenched it tight.

There comes a time in one's life where they consider their lives up to that point. The good, the bad, the terrible, the heartbreaking all have a place. Sasori was by no means good, but that made her see what was. She pulled the ring gingerly from her finger as the pair disappeared into the night.

If he had seen her, she would be dead anyways…that chapter of her life was closed as Sasori's apprentice, but Nara Shikaku's apprentice's story had only just begun. The small ring dropped from her hand and land in the mud that had accumulated from the rain of the past few days.

"Anything worth mentioning?" Shikaku asked her dryly as they packed up their things for the rest of the trip to Kiri. Something must have happened…she wasn't wearing that ring anymore.

"Nothing," she said in a monotone, the same monotone she had been using throughout the days that they had traveled. "All has been silent, Shikaku-sama."

Shikaku resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her words. Whenever she called him "sama" he had to fight the urge to correct her, but it was her job to refer to him as such.

"Are you absolutely certain about that?" he pressed.

The tanuki mask turned to him and for the thousandth time since she had begun to wear it, Shikaku wished he could see through it. Mito had always been very expressive, albeit perhaps on a much quieter scale, but expressive nonetheless, he hadn't approved of her being drafted into the ANBU Corps to begin with, but he hadn't argued.

"Absolutely, sir."

Not several hours later, he was sorely wishing he could switch places with his stoic apprentice (who was now under a henge of black hair instead of red), because he could barely handle how bubbly the new Mizukage was. He could handle Mito who was very sweet on a good day, but this woman acted… _cutesy_ …it was kind of terrifying.

"Everything seems to be in order," Terumi Mei said cheerfully, "and say hi to Mito-chan for me!"

Shikaku blinked slightly and stared. "You know Mito well?"

The Mizukage smiled widely. "Oh, Mito-chan did Kiri a favor a bit back, even left one of her apprentices here to help out…that's Fuu-chan over there."

Shikaku followed where she was pointing towards a girl with mint hair and orange eyes who was cataloguing a shipment of medicinal herbs that had just come in.

"Mito mentioned her…a Suiton type, right?"

Mei nodded cheerfully. "And that would make you her sensei, correct?"

"Yes," Shikaku said in slight surprise, "I'm surprised she mentioned me."

"She adores you," Mei said dismissively, "like a daughter looks for recognition from her father. You were the only person she mentioned by name during her time here." She spared him a grin. "She's dating your son, isn't she?"

Shikaku raised an eyebrow. Surely Mito wouldn't divulge such knowledge whilst in a foreign country.

"Mito-chan is very guarded," Mei continued, "but her companions weren't quite so much. Anyways!" That cheery smile of hers was back. "Have a good night's rest, Shikaku-sama!"

He stared after her, aghast. She was a very strange woman. He glanced around, searching for his wayward apprentice, but she was nowhere to be-ah! There she was, maintaining a silent vigil on the roof of the hotel. He would have mistaken her for a statue with how still she was crouching, but Shikaku knew her too well, and he couldn't help but smile.

And while her sensei relaxed, Mito tensed at an all too familiar scent filtered through her sensitive nose; nightshade and blood.

"It's common courtesy to greet your old teacher when you see him after so long," Akasuna no Sasori's soft voice spoke from the shadows, "and not throw away the gift he gave you."

Mito stood, holding a tri-pronged kunai tight in her hand as he came to stand before her.

"Hmph," she grunted, "preaching to me about gifts, Shishou? The first gift you gave me was blinding poison, if I recall correctly."

A smirk lit his lips. "Ah, yes," he mused, "I remember now."

"I do hope you aren't here on business, Shishou," Mito continued, hefting her blade in his direction, "I would hate to…well, I suppose you'll have to use your imagination for that." And then she reached up and lifted the mask from her face.

Sasori eyed the girl he had once crafted for his every need, his weapon, but she had changed so much since that day he had left her with the Slug Princess. Her eyes were softer and her face gentler; there was no symbol to the harsh life that she had once lived.

"This is goodbye, Shishou," she said quietly, "for good this time; it wouldn't be good for someone like you to be near someone like me."

His eyes narrowed slightly, but then he smirked, replacing the ring that she had dropped in the forest on his finger. "Indeed it is," he agreed, "goodbye, Pseudo-Jinchuuriki-san."

* * *

Mito tapped a finger against the side of her temple, in deep thought as she stared down at her shogi pieces, ignoring her opponent as best as she could, but that was a bit difficult to do, especially since he was the Hokage.

"You did very well on the mission," he said, smoke leaving his lips as he exhaled, removing his pipe.

"I know," she said without a hint of modesty, but not with arrogance either; she knew how well she performed, she was there.

"And I do understand why you chose to leave the ANBU Corps," he added as she paused, her hand over the piece she was going to move before abruptly changing her mind. "You were a good ANBU member."

"Thank you, sir," she said respectfully before smiling slightly, "I'm back to the lowest rank again."

"I don't doubt that you'll pass the Chuunin Exams," Sandaime-sama added.

She shrugged. "Only three-man squads are allowed to perform, though. I mean, Fuu will be a Genin of Konoha once she returns from Kiri, but unless you allow Matsuri to compete with us, the point is moot."

Hiruzen glanced towards the sliding door. He knew very well of the young brunette that was eavesdropping behind it…she had a good bit to go before she could sneak up on a kage.

"If your apprentice does the required minimum missions and you have an impartial sensei vouch for her, I have no problem with letting her compete as long as you understand that she won't be promoted to Chuunin in that time, ignoring the fact that she isn't even a kunoichi from this village."

"Oh, I know that," Mito said agreeably, nodding her head thoughtfully as she searched for a piece to take. "I just want her to get a real taste for what she's signed up for…you can reuse me twice for the one-on-one rounds," she added, "if you think that'll make them fairer."

"I'll keep it in mind," he said, puffing out a bit of smoke, opening his mouth to say more when their pleasant game and chat was rudely interrupted by a loud voice that Mito knew a little too well.

"MIIITTTTOOOOO-CCCCHHHAAANNN!"

She blinked owlishly as the Taijutsu master, Maito Gai skidded to a stop before her, picking her up and swinging her around in excitement despite her squeak of protest.

"Gai-sensei! Put me down!"

He did so, but his ecstatic expression remained. "Mito-chan! I am overjoyed at your youthful return!"

"I don't doubt it," she said in a dry manner as Matsuri finally opened the sliding door to gape at the man that she had heard a great deal about, being Mito's Taijutsu teacher and all…but his appearance had not been one that she was expecting.

"You must come and train with my Genin team today!" he added boisterously.

"Um…I must?" Mito asked, rubbing the back of her head slightly. "I've hardly seen Shikamaru-kun since I got back, and Matsuri needs some more-" She sighed suddenly. "You're not going to give up, are you?"

His blinding grin told her the answer to her question.

She sighed again, this time almost mournfully. "Matsuri, get your shoes. We're going on a fieldtrip."

"Um…okay?" Matsuri said in a confused voice, hardly having time to do as her master asked before she and Mito were forcefully dragged away by the exuberant man.

Meanwhile, in a training ground three Genin were resting from their workout and drinking their water in the hopes that it would alleviate their exhaustion somewhat.

"Did either of you see where Gai-sensei went?" Tenten, the weapons specialist of the team and only female of Team Gai, asked her teammates.

Both boys shook their heads and Tenten sighed, but thankfully she didn't have too long to wonder because in a cloud of dust, their sensei reappeared towing two more people. The youngest had a green-tinged face and had a hand clamped over her mouth while the second one rubbed her back soothingly. Clearly the second one was more adjusted to the speed that Maito Gai liked to run at.

"Matsuri," she said, "why don't you go and sit for a bit in the shade. Alright?"

The brunette, Matsuri, nodded quickly and wobbled in the direction of the trees.

"My youthful students!" he cried. "I have brought a visitor who has agreed to spar with you!"

All three students looked up in interest at the second girl who gave a small wave. Her eyes were a sparkling amethyst and her hair was a bright crimson, pulled slightly to the side to show the violet diamond at the center of her forehead, and she was wearing what the ANBU usually wore under their armor; a simple sleeveless black shirt and pants.

"Hello," she said politely, her lips twitching upwards into a slight smile. "I'm Senju Mito."

The surname was what struck Tenten the most, as she idolized a woman with the very same last name.

"Senju?" Tenten said in surprise, her own eyes widening in her surprise. "Like Tsunade-sama?"

Mito smiled. "Yes, she's my mother."

Tenten stared at her, her mouth dropping open in shock, as Tsunade was her hero and it had once been her dream to be just like her. Unfortunately, Tenten hadn't had much of an affinity for the healing arts.

"So…who wants to face me first?" she asked, glancing towards the entrance. "I get the feeling that Shikamaru-kun will track me down before long…unless he gets a mission today…so I guess it'll be less than ten minutes…" She glanced to Gai. "If that's alright with you? I've still got to finalize my resignation."

Gai bobbed his head in agreement. "I am certain my youthful students will enjoy the opportunity to spar with a well-enabled individual," he stated proudly, flashing her a bright smile and a thumbs up. To her credit, Mito did not blink, though her companion –even in the shade of a nearby tree– winced.

Tenten glanced to her teammates, Rock Lee and Neji Hyuuga, before quickly volunteering herself to battle first.

"I'm Tenten," she added as they moved a bit away to begin.

"Nice to meet you," Mito said pleasantly, making Tenten wonder if there was actually a mean bone in her body. She seemed too…nice. "Matsuri," she called to where the girl had recovered enough to sit up, "I want you to watch these matches and tell me how they could have gone better." She smiled sweetly at Tenten. "You don't mind, do you? It'll be a good learning experience for her."

"Um…sure?" Tenten said, tensing her body slightly. She could see now that her original assessment was incorrect. She may have looked delicate, but the way she moved was fluid, like a seasoned warrior. She seemed more deadly than Gai-sensei who often gave off the feeling of being too goofy to be taken seriously, but there was something about her…something about her that Tenten wanted to see in herself one day.

"What rank are you?" she found herself asking as she settled into a fighting stance, being a little surprised that she didn't do the same.

"Genin."

Tenten blinked. Why did she doubt that? But then she had mentioned something about resignation earlier…had she been in a higher position before and had done something to lose her rank? But Tenten didn't have time to theorize about Mito's career before the girl in question spoke once more.

"Basic rules for my fights," Mito added, "you get one round before a defeat is named, unless we tie, anything goes as long as you aren't aiming to kill."

Well, that left a lot of room for Tenten, she was better at incapacitation anyways.

"Begin!"

They moved instantaneously, or almost instantaneously, with Tenten striking first, her fist connecting with Mito's forearm as she drew it up in front of her face, not even batting an eye at the force behind the hit as she smacked her free arm into Tenten's side, sending her sprawling, much to her surprise.

"Sorry," Mito smiled, tilting her head slightly and bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, "but I excel at hand-to-hand. Are you sure you want to keep going?"

Tenten gritted her teeth, but grinned. This was the first female her age that actually was a bit skilled. Most kunoichi failed out of the program, caring more about their physical appearance than techniques to best their enemies. "Are you kidding? Hell no!"

She withdrew a scroll which Mito eyed curiously. Sadly, Tenten doubted it would give her much of an edge; she was clearly very outmatched.

Tenten nicked her thumb with her teeth, swiping the blood across the seal and releasing an onslaught of kunai, shuriken, and senbon upon her enemy. Mito threw her arms up in an effort to protect herself, disappearing into a cloud of dust, but when the dust cleared, she was gone.

"What the-?" Tenten muttered, looking around for any trace of her, but she could find nothing that was a sign of the thirteen year old.

Neji only saw her a split second before she struck –and even then, he only saw a flash of red–, her fist colliding with Tenten's stomach, sending her flying backwards to land in a heap.

The match had barely started and it was so obvious to Tenten who was superior. It was truly humbling. Tenten was so used to being the top girl, but Senju Mito…Senju Mito was _scary_ good.

Mito settled her hands on her hips and smiled, speaking towards Matsuri. "Now that's how far you want to be able to throw someone without using chakra, Matsuri."

"Yes, Shishou!"

Neji's eyes narrowed. Without chakra? Was she really that strong? Or maybe she was holding herself back? He couldn't be sure.

Mito eyed Tenten with fascination as the girl got up, holding her side slightly, hacking a few coughs before standing, excitement still alight in her eyes. "Ready for more?"

"Always!" Tenten said with a grin, running forwards to leap upwards, the wires on her fingers just catching the light.

"Impressive," Mito had to admit as the weapons thrown before were drawn out of the ground. Her eyes narrowed. "However, the result will still be the same…"

Her right arm glowed green from her chakra and she moved so quickly that even Neji with his Byakugan activated couldn't see her, her arm slicing through the wires and grabbing them, yanking Tenten by the flimsy wires now connected to her fingers, causing her to crash to the ground.

Tenten didn't get up for a moment, but then she sat up with a groan, coughing to regain her breath.

"Y-you're good," she grudgingly admitted as the red-haired kunoichi walked to her side, her glowing green hand pressing into her stomach, soothing the heated throbbing from her attack.

Mito shrugged. "There are many people who are better than me. You need to work on your close combat, that's your biggest issue, and Taijutsu." Tenten nodded, taking her words into consideration.

"Me next! Me next!" Lee was jumping up and down in his excitement as Tenten stood, moving off to sit in the shade with her bruised pride. "Oh, please!"

Mito flushed in embarrassment at the idolization that was so clear in his round eyes. "Alright."

Lee took up his Goken stance, while Mito remained standing where she was, no stance apparent. This left Lee wide open and Mito being the one who could anticipate what kind of moves he would make. Mito, on the other hand, was much less of an open book, making it more difficult for him to tell how she would fight him.

She was clearly a powerhouse, so he was even more at a disadvantage.

"Begin!"

Lee moved first, giving her even more of an advantage, moving incredibly fast, much faster than she would have thought, especially with those weights strapped to his feet. She was keeping these matches short for a reason, but she suspected that this one would be harder to keep down; he had Gai's resolve. She leapt over his kick, twisting in the air to drop her hands to the ground, using it as leverage to swing her own legs at the boy, knocking him back a few steps.

But he was not deterred; he was beaming so brightly that Mito had to laugh. Here was a boy that could only use Taijutsu, and he loved every second of it; there weren't many people like that.

Tenten's mouth gaped slightly as she watched the pair with rapid eyes, moving quickly to catch their movements. But they were so _fast!_ Mito matched Lee's speed with ease, and that was no easy feat, even Neji seemed impressed, in his own way.

It went on longer than Tenten's had –to her annoyance– before she managed to lock Lee in a chokehold until he conceded defeat.

And then it was on to Neji who immediately settled into a Juuken stance, his eyes narrowing into his Byakugan, but then, to Lee and Tenten's surprise, Mito mirrored his movements.

"I should warn you," she said, her lips twisting slightly into a grin that was almost a smirk, "I trained under your grandfather, Kouga, in the Juuken style despite not having those infamous eyes

Neji's eyes narrowed further and then he smirked. "I very much doubt that, my grandfather died before you were even born."

"Perhaps," Mito mused. "We shall see if you are as good as your cousin."

Irritation and anger flashed in his pale eyes. "Hinata-sama's abilities are not even close to mine. Compared to me, she is far weaker."

Mito's face held no emotion as she repeated her words, "We shall see."

She could see that he wasn't going to make the first move, so she did instead, her open palm slapping against his in a swift clash of chakra. She was careful to stay close enough to block his hits, but far enough to be safe from them as well.

Now Neji could see what Gai-sensei had meant when he said he had once had a student who had a habit of combining fighting styles; it explained how she knew both Goken and Juuken and utilized them both with ease.

He had miscalculated, he realized, now struggling to keep up with her speed. He should have known she was the one they called the Akai Senkou, with the flash of red he had seen during her brief fight. She was in the Bingo Book for her skill in decapitation.

Mito twisted, leaping over his head, pushing off of his shoulder hard enough to force his knees downwards slightly, but he recovered quickly enough to block her next blow.

Lee was impressed and Tenten was shocked that someone could use that style without the use of the Byakugan. But, she reminded herself, this was Senju Mito she was talking about, someone who had probably learned a great deal about the human body and all the chakra points in the process, she could probably guess where they were by factoring in muscle mass and bones position.

An arm growing with green chakra was held horizontally against Neji's neck while her other hand gripped his wrist tightly, forcing a strike away while breaking his stance with a foot hooked around his ankle.

"Looks like a win for me," she said simply, arching her eyebrow as she canceled her jutsu and turned towards Matsuri who had been enraptured in the very short matches (thus furthering her resolve to work harder to be just as strong), who quickly scrambled to her feet, moving towards her sensei with quick feet.

Mito glanced up towards the trees where an ANBU member was sitting. Once he had her attention, he signed to her and Mito had to resist rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, Gai-sensei," she said, giving an apologetic bow, "but seems I've been summoned. I'm sure we'll see you and your team around at some point or another." She held out a hand to Matsuri who took it eagerly. One hand sign later and they had vanished in a flash of red.

"Mito-san is most impressive, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried once she had gone. "I have already learned much even with such a short fight with a glorious opponent!"

"That's the spirit, Lee!"

Tenten could only groan as Neji made a small noise of annoyance, his pride pooling under his sandals.


	9. Ceasing Imitations

Ino was the first person Mito visited the next day, and the blonde was shocked at the reason why.

"Why do you want to cut your hair?" she demanded. "It's beautiful!"

Mito shrugged. She'd actually been thinking about it for some time…truth be told, it wouldn't be that straight if she didn't expend a little chakra in the first place. It was highly irregular of her to expend chakra for no reason, not including the seal on her forehead, but it wasn't when you thought about how Mito was viewed.

She was the daughter of one of the Legendary Sannin, to which she bore no physical resemblance (being adopted and all, technically she and Tsunade were more like cousins). She could hear how people whispered about her, how she wasn't like her mother at all…so Mito had taken some inspiration from Tsunade's grandmother –the same woman for whom she was named– Uzumaki Mito. But Mito now found keeping her hair straight to be a bit trivial, and she kind of missed the spiky quality.

Mito made a small hand sign and suddenly it was straight no longer and Ino could only gape at her friend. "…I don't really know what I expected."

A small laugh escaped Mito's lips at her words as she removed the hair cuffs from the long locks that framed the side of her face. "Well, Kaa-chan uses Genjutsu to make herself look young, I use it to make my hair straight."

"Oh, but it looks so much better spikier!" Ino said with a grin. "You're more…you."

Mito grinned in response, allowing herself to be directed to a chair and closing her eyes as Ino took her kunai to her hair.

It was only a few minutes later that Ino steered her friend in front of her father and demand his opinion. She really shouldn't have bothered; Inoichi couldn't have cared less what his friend's apprentice did with her hair.

He gave Mito a blank stare. "I hate to break it to you, but a lot of people saw through that Genjutsu of yours."

The Sunan-born kunoichi reddened; Genjutsu hadn't really been her strong suit.

"Shikaku figured it was pointless to explain to you that you don't have to look like Tsunade-sama to fit in," Inoichi explained to her, "he said you'd learn it yourself eventually."

Mito crossed her arms looking extremely petulant for a moment that Inoichi forgot this was someone who had once been in ANBU, capable of slicing through throats in mere seconds, in the time that it took to blink.

Ino sniggered. "I can't wait to see Shikamaru's face when he sees it!"

Violet eyes looked at her in confusion. Why would Shikamaru care what her hair looked like?

* * *

"Y-You can't be serious, Hokage-sama!"

Mito had to run to meet the Sandaime's stride, so shocked from his words that she choked the smoke rising from his pipe. "Sir!" she gasped. "You are going to have me as a _paper-pusher?_ That's a serious waste of my abilities!"

"It is," Hiruzen agreed, puffing a ring of smoke into the air as they rounded the corner.

"Then why of all the people-!" Mito said, waving her hands expressively before pausing with sudden realization. Her tone turned shrewd. "It's Danzou, isn't it?"

The man had long-since harbored a grudge against her for reasons Mito could only guess at, perhaps he thought her a threat to Konoha; 'accidents' were a frequent occurrence when he was around.

"The circumstances surrounding your sudden departure last year could be taken as a defection, if you hadn't informed me ahead of time," the Hokage informed her, avoiding the issue of his old friend, "as it is, you are a foreign shinobi who had access to several high level documents during your time as an ANBU operative, and after you left, you traveled to several countries with whom were are at odds with. That is suspicious to many."

"Great," Mito sighed, raking a hand through her newly-cut hair (Hokage thought it best not to comment, though the wild hair made her resemblance to Tobirama-sensei more prominent), "so this is to…prove my worth?"

"You may see it like that if you wish," Hiruzen said simply, "but there are other reasons I wish to keep you close."

Mito's eyes narrowed in contemplation, but she opted to not press the issue. "So…what would you like for me to do first…sir?"

"There are a few scrolls marked for today that Umino-san has left on my desk." He smiled around his pipe at the exasperated expression her face now bore. "Would you be so kind as to fetch them and bring them down to the Mission Assignment Desk?"

Mito sighed again, making a swift sign with her hands and vanishing in a flash only to return in a matter of moments hefting a few scrolls in her hands with a rather distinct look on her face. "Would you please care to enlighten me as to why you wish me to be your…assistant of sorts?"

"Not at this time," he said with a touch of finality that brooked no argument as they passed through the halls of the Academy until they reached the desks that were set up for mission debriefing. Mito eyed her hard-backed seat with disdain. Oh, this was going to be a long few weeks to months.

The hours passed by slowly and Mito's attention waned, fastened on the pile of scrolls that lay before her, marking each one with an adequate ranking, tapping out constantly in Morse code with her sandal "W-A-S-T-E O-F T-I-M-E."

"Bored already?"

Mito jumped slightly, dropping the pencil and flushing as she met Shikamaru's eyes, his smirk only serving to darken her cheeks as his eyes roved over her hair.

"You know me and paperwork," she said, leaning her cheek on her cocked fist as Asuma chose between a few missions for his team.

"What're you doing here anyways?" Chouji asked in confusion around `a mouthful of chips. "And what happened to your hair?"

"That was me," Ino informed her teammates, grinning widely at the surprised glances thrown her way. "Mito wanted a change, so I helped her with a haircut…but Chouji's right," she added, "why're you here without your apprentice?" She looked around for her friend's brown-haired shadow, but she was nowhere in sight.

"I've been…acquisitioned," Mito said in a rather dry voice, "it seems the Hokage has finally discovered the secret to completing his paperwork faster." She glared at the older man beside her that took no heed, so she simply sighed. "Matsuri will be joining Team Seven, she'll be here later."

"Ooh!" Ino winced. "So sorry for her!" She winked and Mito rolled her eyes in return. "I need to steal you later."

"Why?" Mito asked suspiciously.

"Why else?" Ino's sea-green eyes twinkled and she clapped her hands in excitement. "Shopping!"

Mito recoiled slightly at her enthusiasm before mumbling, "Well, I do need some new ninja gear…"

Ino beamed at her, but Mito was distracted from her briefly by Shikamaru tapping the back of her hand lightly with one finger, drawing her attention back to him. "Hm?"

"Lunch?" He canted his head to the side slightly. "Yakiniku Q?"

Mito smiled brightly, her cheeks still pink. "I'll bring the shogi board."

Ino groaned. "You two are impossible! Can't you act like normal people on a date?"

"Normal is boring," Mito disagreed, waving her hand carelessly, "besides, I still haven't managed to completely outsmart him."

Shikamaru's mouth twisted upwards further, drawing a light circle on the back of her hand like he had done when she was suffering from poison, her sight hazy, as a way to tell her who was with her without having to speak. The touch made Mito flush just slightly.

"Don't get all smug on me!" Mito poked a finger in his direction, standing with her hands on her hips as she scowled at him, her face inches away from his. "I've been honing my shogi skills over the past year."

"Oh, yeah?" He arched an eyebrow at her, daringly.

"You-!" Mito jabbed him in the shoulder, trying to get the flush of her cheeks under control.

"Alright!" Asuma's voice interrupted them. "If the pair of you are quite done flirting!"

A pale pink spread across Shikamaru's cheeks as he scoffed and Mito huffed, falling back to her seat again, waving them farewell before turning towards the Hokage. "You really like making my life incredibly boring, don't you?"

The Hokage merely sipped his tea in response and Mito groaned, dropping her head to the table in aggravation. "Come on! All I've got to look forward to today is my date with Shikamaru-kun!" She sat up suddenly. "And I have to check on Hayate-san to see how he's recovering."

"Hm…I had heard you had found a cure for Hayate's illness," Hiruzen said, "his request for time off in order to recover was put through yesterday."

"Good," Mito said, leaning back in her chair, "any extra stress on his body will probably destroy all the work we put into getting him…it'll be more detrimental to him than me, to be honest."

Umino Iruka, sitting on her opposite side, bit the inside of his cheek to keep from opening him mouth with a hundred questions on his tongue. It had been thought that Gekkou Hayate's illness was untreatable, but Senju-sama had barely been back a week and she had turned that on its head. She was quite a curious girl, he had to admit. Could she really be Naruto's cousin? Iruka had been certain that his favorite pupil had no family, but there was a certain familiarity between the two that couldn't be denied.

It was turning into a very interesting day.

Mito gathered up the scrolls before her with a small amount of annoyance. "I'm going to file these, then I'm going to check on Hayate-san, and then I'm going to bring Matsuri here for her first assignment…if that's alright?"

Clearly, her new job was grating on her nerves.

The Hokage gave his nod of approval and Mito exited in an irate manner.

* * *

"What we don't want you to do is overstep your boundaries," Mito explained, wearing her medic-nin's lab coat once more, leaning back in a chair that swiveled while her apprentice watched patiently, taking everything in. "Getting you up to top speed will take time, you realize, and you can't jump into training right away."

Hayate nodded, squeezing his fiancée's fingers comfortingly, to which she smiled down at him.

Mito forced herself not to roll her eyes at them, but she supposed that Yuugao had always told herself that she was going to marry a dying man, knowing the man you loved's life was cut short wasn't something that anyone wanted to deal with.

"Matsuri."

Matsuri's head jerked up suddenly and she met her sensei's eyes. "Shishou?"

"Why don't you give Hayate-san his antidote and explain how much he needs daily?" Mito offered.

"Really?" Excitement brimmed in her dark eyes. She'd never been offered the opportunity to do something by herself, well, she had worked at the hospital without her Shishou around, but she'd never done something with her watching her, ready to tell her what she did right or wrong.

Mito tapped her elbow lightly to tell her that Yuugao and Hayate were waiting. Matsuri blushed to the roots of her chestnut hair.

"Um, right!" She extended the bottle to Yuugao who took it, examining the mixture within intently. "So, this should last you about two weeks. Only take it once a day, and only drink two tablespoons a day, too much will make the poison resistant to the antidote."

"You're certain?" Yuugao asked, jostling the bottle in her hand slightly, watching the liquid within it move. "I was not aware poisons could do such a thing."

"Its creator was quite gifted," Matsuri said stiffly, her fist curling tighter beside her. She could hear her master give a soft sigh and she forced herself to relax. Her Shishou wasn't wearing his ring anymore, so she supposed that that was a good thing, but despite everything, despite that Akasuna no Sasori had taught her master a great many things, he had still been the one that killed her grandfather. And that was unforgiveable.

Hayate glanced between Mito and Matsuri, confusion marring his face. Were master and apprentice fighting?

"Yuugao-san, perhaps you'd like me to show you a few of the exercises you can help Hayate-san with to regain his strength?" Mito offered, standing and brushing the worn material of her short white kimono as she stood.

"Please," Yuugao said gratefully, following the young kunoichi out of the room after giving Hayate a short kiss.

"Matsuri…"

Matsuri's head turned towards the man that was resting in the hospital bed. She could already see an improvement in the shinobi since the last time she'd seen him. The circles under his eyes while still there were not nearly as dark as they had been before, and there was a small amount of color in his cheeks. "Yes, Hayate-san?"

"Are you…fighting with Mito-sama?" he asked, his voice weak and his chest still tight from the poison that had taken away his youth.

"No, of course not," Matsuri disagreed, looking surprised at his question, "why would you think that?"

He arched an eyebrow at her.

Matsuri sighed. "It's…complicated…the man that was Shishou's Shishou is the same man who killed my grandfather and poisoned you…we have different…views on him."

"I see," Hayate said, canting his head slightly on his pillow. "You find it difficult to see…him as anything but a killer."

"Well, yeah," Matsuri said a bit lamely.

"What about Mito-sama?"

"What about her?" Matsuri crossed her arms, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"Mito-sama has killed many…is she not a killer as well?" Hayate offered a different side. "She has much blood on her hands from ANBU."

"And Suna," Matsuri muttered, remembering the hateful glares that were often thrown towards Mito when she had stayed there during her time away from Konoha. She had heard stories as to why the villagers called every full moon a Blood Moon, because Sabaku no Mito slit someone's throat on every full moon, and sometimes some in between.

She had always imagined Sabaku no Mito to be part demon with that kind of thirst for blood, but then she vanished so suddenly that it left the whole village uneasy with a wonder of where she had gone, and then the fear came back in full when Gaara took up her mantle for slaughter.

But then she came back years later, older, wiser, and calmer. Matsuri could have hardly believed that they were the same person. Sabaku no Mito was a demon of the past, but Senju Mito was a kunoichi of the present. She was certain that she killed a lot of people in ANBU, but she never mentioned her missions (but most of them were classified to begin with, so what did that matter?).

Matsuri released a slow sigh from her gritted teeth, making the sigh come out more like a hiss than anything else.

"I suppose," she said finally, "it's a bit about perception."

"Indeed," Hayate agreed, taking a short sip of the cup of water that was on his bedside table, next to the over-extravagant bouquet that Genma, Aoba, and Anko had gotten him, grinning roguishly as they had handed it over two days ago as though he was some damsel. Those idiots…and the intoxicating scent made his nose itch.

Matsuri gazed out into the sunlight through the window, an expression of deep contemplation overtaking her features. Honestly, she wasn't sure what to think, but she knew she wouldn't ever be able to forgive Akasuna no Sasori for taking her parents from her.

"Matsuri?" Mito's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Are you ready to go?"

"Um, yeah!" Matsuri smiled at her, pulling a faint smile in return from her master. D-ranks didn't sound too scary, from the way Mito described them –despite never doing one herself– they were more tedious than anything else. But Matsuri had to do eight D-ranks and three C-ranks before the Chuunin Exams came around, because Mito had told her flat out that she would be performing in them with her and Fuu to assess their abilities (more hers than Fuu's, because Fuu had actually been a Genin before she 'died', while Matsuri hadn't even been close).

But doing D-ranks meant she would have to interact with people other than her Shishou and Matsuri was really bad at speaking up for herself and interacting. She grimaced at the thought, following Mito out of the room and waving goodbye to Hayate who returned the wave with a bit of bemusement.

"Is it about Sasori?" Mito asked finally, once they'd been walking a short while, passing under a few trees that rustled in the wind, pausing briefly in the shadow.

Matsuri bit her lip, not quite sure what to say.

Mito ran a hand through her hair and Matsuri found that she looked more like Gaara-sama with her hair like that; she liked it better the way it was now then the way it had been before, the calm, straight locks weren't really her style. "I have no disillusions about my master," Mito said around a sigh, tilting her head back slightly, squinting into the sunlight that filtered through the branches, "to me he was the person who taught me restraint and control, he is the one who set the foundations for who I am today…but he was also a murderer and a cruel-hearted man."

The red-head dropped a hand to ruffle Matsuri's hair affectionately, making the girl's cheeks pink. "But you need to remember, Matsuri, is that everyone has two faces, the one you see and the one you don't."

"What about you?" Matsuri asked. "What about your other side?"

Mito pulled her head forward once more before turning towards Matsuri, pursing her lips and wondering what she could tell her.

"When I was in ANBU," she began, "my face was always hidden, I didn't need to worry about seeing me as I am, but when it came off…that was when I had the most difficulty."

"What do you mean?" Matsuri had seen how she interacted with her friends; she didn't think she'd ever seen Mito smile so much or radiate so much happiness.

"My mother is the great Senju Tsunade, the greatest Medic-nin the world has ever known," Mito said with a tone that was nearly bitter. "I love her very much and she taught me so much, but…I am adopted with no resemblance to her whatsoever…the only member of her family I look even remotely like is her grandmother for whom I am named, Uzumaki Mito."

"You made yourself look like her," Matsuri realized, "so the village would accept you."

"Perceptive," Mito said with a light laugh, twisting a strand of her wild hair around her finger, "and true. So, Matsuri, do not do what I did, do not be afraid to show yourself for who you are. You have made me see clearly, Matsuri, it is you who have taught me that I should not hide from the past, so neither should you. Hate Sasori, hate him with every _fiber_ of your being, but there is one thing that you must do."

"What?" Matsuri asked, stunned that she had taught her master a lesson without even meaning to.

Mito clasped her shoulders, forcing Matsuri's obsidian eyes to meet hers. "Surpass him…and surpass your grandfather."

Matsuri balked. Surpass her grandfather? She didn't even think that was possible. The Sandaime Kazekage had been singular in his ability to use the Jiton, Matsuri couldn't hope to compare, especially when she couldn't even pick up a kunai.

Mito straightened once more, brushing a hand down the front of her haori, her eyes sparkling like amethyst. "Don't worry, Matsuri," she assured her, "something is only impossible if you think it is."

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha hated his team, and that had mostly to do with his teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Naruto at least had some skill in combat, something that was evident with his Kagebunshin, but Sakura…she hardly had any skill at all, other than praising him as often as she could.

Unfortunately, Naruto was a rather loud teammate with equally loud taste in clothes. Though since becoming Genin, his taste had improved by a small margin to a slightly darker orange jacket and dark shinobi pants. But he still annoyed Sasuke like no one else had.

"Aw, come on!" Naruto complained, throwing his hands up in the air as he complained to the Hokage. "These are just chores, they're not even real missions!"

"Naruto!" Iruka stood to chastise his favorite pupil when the sound of sandals on wood interrupted him.

"I could hear your voice from a mile away, Naruto, you might want to tone it down."

Sakura turned along with the rest of the team to stare at the two newcomers. Sakura had never seen anyone with hair quite so red or eyes as purple, but Sasuke's eyes were drawn instead towards the diamond on her forehead, and to the odd sash the second girl wore around her waist, one that bore the Senju clan's symbol. His eyes narrowed.

"Mito-chan!" Naruto lunged at his cousin. "I heard you went on an S-rank! How'd it go?"

"Um…fine," Mito said, looking at the boy that was hanging off of her like a leech.

"What did you do to your hair?" he added. "It wasn't like that last time was it?"

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," Mito said brightly, grinning down at him, while her brunette companion forced herself not to smile.

That captured Sasuke's interest as well. A Senju no more than his age going on S-ranks? Now that was someone he would like to test his skills against. He eyed her speculatively…on the other hand, she didn't look like much.

"When can we start going on S-ranks?" Naruto demanded.

"When you're mentally and physically able," Mito said shortly, "now get off of me before I punch you through a wall."

Naruto released her in a surprisingly quick movement and Hatake Kakashi could feel a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. Well, it was safe to say that Mito had picked up some of her mother's traits.

"You are going to have to get used to the idea that you're not always going to be out in the field," Mito said, striding past him and around the desks to take up her seat once more beside the Hokage.

Sakura's heart beat fast against her chest. She remembered her mother and father warning her about a dangerous girl with red hair, she had been told to stay away from her at all costs.

"Besides," Mito added, leaning her cheek on her fist in an expression of boredom that Sakura vaguely thought looked reminiscent of Shikamaru, "you're not going to be allowed to go on a C-rank until you've completed eight D-ranks. Come back when you've done that."

Iruka glanced a bit flabbergasted towards the Hokage who had begun to chuckle softly at her antics. She could emulate her sensei and boyfriend quite well.

Naruto scowled at her, slamming his palms onto the table in front of her. "But you've never done a D-rank in your life!"

Even Kakashi could tell that he'd overstepped a boundary, and judging by the way the Hokage was wincing, he had as well.

"Well, Naruto," Mito said, her voice darkening, "maybe if you were raised in Suna and taught Kinjutsu as a child and had a nasty habit of leaving a trail of bodies, you would be allowed to skip the D-ranks entirely." Sakura's face went completely white, while a glint entered Sasuke's, and Kakashi could barely restrain his surprise. "What? You mean you don't have these qualities? _Shocker!"_

"You're so mean," Naruto muttered, a pout forming on his face as he did so.

Mito smiled sweetly. "I can also punch you through several walls."

Naruto recoiled quickly –a wise course of action.

Hiruzen chuckled softly, smiling around his pipe as he did so. He wondered if Mito and Naruto realized they were squabbling like siblings.

Kakashi was smiling behind Naruto's back, hidden by his mask, but obvious with how his only visible eye had closed and the fabric over his mouth had rippled in an upwards motion. Sakura had begun to tap her foot in impatience and even Sasuke was showing some annoyance.

"I'm your nicest cousin, in case you didn't know," Mito retorted to Naruto's words that Kakashi had missed in his amusement towards their behavior. "It's either me or Crazy, Crude, and Vulgar!"

"Well-!" Naruto spluttered, his cheeks flushed a little. "I'd take Crazy over you any day!"

"I'll tell Gaara you said that!"

Iruka wasn't sure what happened, but the next second the pair was laughing.

"What just happened?" Sakura asked Kakashi who was a bit bemused, equating a laughing Naruto and Mito to Kushina and Minato so many years ago. The likeness was uncanny, if one switched the personalities a bit. Mito was quieter and calmer (albeit outspoken with her humor, it seemed), like Minato, and Naruto was loud and brash like Kushina.

"I imagine an inside joke of sorts…Naruto, if you are finished we'll be heading to our D-rank," Kakashi called to him from where he was still sniggering with his cousin. The smile fell off Naruto's face almost immediately to be replaced with a sulky expression. Kakashi turned towards the small brunette that was hovering awkwardly close to the door. "I take it you will be joining us…?"

"Matsuri," the girl supplied, giving a short nod.

"Hatake Kakashi," the copy-ninja introduced himself before gesturing towards his students, "these are Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and–" He nodded towards where Mito and Naruto were– "And that's Uzumaki Naruto."

"Shishou's cousin?" Matsuri asked in surprise. Ino had mentioned the Uzumaki while she had stayed with her during her master's mission, but she'd never actually seen him.

"Hm? I suppose," Kakashi mused, glancing towards the pair.

"Have fun!" Mito sang brightly, before tugging lightly on his sleeve to draw his ear down so she could whisper into his ear. "I'm going to need to check your skill in tactics soon…let's see if you're on par with Shikamaru-kun."

"You're kidding right?" he retorted in a whisper. "No one's as good as Shikamaru."

Mito laughed, allowing him to straighten up once more. "Please, you forget that the smartest person in the village is actually Shikamaru-kun's father…and you might want to get moving." She nodded behind him. "Your team seems to have left without you."

" _What?!"_

Naruto glanced behind him feverishly to see that his squad had indeed ditched him. "Hey, guys!" He tossed a feverish wave to Mito as he raced out of the room with some rather impressive speed. "Don't just leave me, you jerks!"

Mito distantly heard the sound of a crash and a female scream. "Naruto, you _moron!"_

" _Ow!"_

"Well," Mito drawled to the Hokage, "there goes my excitement for the day."

"You'll get used to it," Hiruzen assured her.

Mito merely groaned, dropping her hand to the desk with a swift bang and Iruka had to stifle his laughter at the kunoichi's behavior.

"And whatever happened to your hair?"

"You're hardly one to talk," Mito said with a scowl towards the Hokage's thinning hairline.

* * *

The sun was bright and warm but it did nothing to soothe Mito's mind as she scowled at the pieces before her.

"What's really bothering you?"

Her eyes shifted upwards in surprise to meet Shikamaru's. She took a moment too long to recognize the smirk on his lips and the quirk of his eyebrow and a pale flush warmed her cheeks.

Annoyance splashed across her face. "It's nothing…I just really hate my new job." She moved her lance forward. To her surprise she had discovered she and Shikamaru were remarkably balanced on the shogi board, something that elated her and irked him. "Can't imagine why he'd rather have me at his side than out in the field."

Shikamaru tossed her a look as she mutinously stabbed at a piece of meat on the grill, chewing and swallowing it thickly.

"What?"

"Maybe that's your problem," Shikamaru said simply, taking her rook much to her disappointment.

Her eyebrows furrowed together and an expression of intense concentration overtaking her eyes before she closed them, mouthing words too fast for Shikamaru to understand them and then her eyes opened and she moved a pawn forward, taking one of his own. "You think I'm…impatient?"

"Sometimes," Shikamaru said with a shrug, "you're very…fast."

Mito cocked an eyebrow at him, her lips twitching, earning a scowl in return from the Nara.

"You know what I mean," he complained.

And Mito did. Being swift and efficient was something she preferred, but being slow and careful was something she had always had difficulty with.

"Maybe," she mused, leaning her head into her hand. "I've decided to relinquish the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)."

Her blunt words took him by surprise and he found himself gaping at her. "You're…You're what? But you're so good at using that technique!"

"It's a bit of a hassle, really," Mito admitted, "relying on kunai instead of my own speed…besides, I don't really want to be known as the Akai Senkou, there was already a Senkou from this village and I've decided I don't want to replicate other people."

"That explains the hair," Shikamaru muttered into his drink.

"I heard that!" She stuck out her tongue at him.

"And this was a great ANBU?" Shikamaru uttered in a mournful manner, leaning back on his seat.

"Oi!" She snapped, her cheeks bright red. "Respect your betters, Shikamaru-kun!"

"My IQ is higher than yours," Shikamaru informed her.

"By twenty-five points!"

"Who's counting?" he shot back.

The words were strangled from Mito's lips and she could only mouth wordlessly at him, completely stupefied.

"Check mate," he added, making one last move on the board.

Mito groaned, throwing her head back in complaint, muttering a few unsavory things under her breath towards the Nara heir, but he paid her no heed; he'd known her too long to take her seriously.

"I'll get you one day," she informed him petulantly, tapping the back of his hand like he had done to her earlier that day.

"Try," he dared her, full-on grinning now, a rare occurrence.

"Are you challenging me?" Mito asked, vaguely surprised by his boldness.

"That would indicate that you're a challenge." His eyes held mischief as he gazed upon her, twisting his hand under her fingers until they were palm to palm. Shikamaru wasn't that romantic, but the hidden meanings behind every touch, every glance had a certain depth to them.

Mito tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing. "Please," she said, her voice low and laced with humor, "I'm the greatest challenge you've ever faced."

And while they talked and laughed (and flirted, from a certain standpoint), a certain someone was spying on them.

"Ino…you know this is insanely creepy…right?"

_"Sh!"_

Kiba rolled his eyes at Ino as he passed with Akamaru perched on top of his head, doing his best to ignore the blonde who was barely hiding with binoculars plastered to her eyes as she watched the pair closely with a smirk on her lips.

Until a finger was flipped in her direction by one of the people she was spying on.

Ino scowled. "Spoilsport."


	10. Training

Mito watched as Matsuri ran past the outer rim of the village, her face bright red with exertion, but no matter how tired she was, she didn't stop. Mito grinned; Matsuri's resolve had only increased when she had received word that Fuu would be coming to Konoha sometime within the next two weeks. The Mizukage had been most grateful of her service and had been reluctant to relinquish her, but Fuu had been ready to leave.

"The cuisine here gets old really fast," Fuu had said, which was the equivalent of: "The food is boring." Fuu was nothing if not a food fanatic; she'd get along well with Chouji.

Mito tapped a finger lightly over the red magatama beads tattooed to the skin of her arm. She had originally assumed its sudden appearance had come from controlling Shukaku, but Naoru-sama had said that something like that had never occurred before.

"I sense your future is still untold," she had said simply, "perhaps it will be explained when events unfold."

So Mito was left to a mystery she doubted she would solve anytime soon. She turned her attention back to the small blank scroll in front of her, scrawling her words out as an ANBU operative knelt beside her, awaiting her completion.

_No change has been made in Patient X at this current time. Internal organs are functioning correctly. Heart rate and breathing rate are normal. Brain showed minor activity in the hippocampus. Full recovery- unknown._

Mito gave a small sigh as she sealed the scroll, holding it out the ANBU member, knowing that it was pointless. These weekly reports on Hyuuga Hizashi's condition had shown no improvement, and Mito wasn't even sure if the man could recover from being forced into a vegetative state for so long. The male operative –as it was evident from his stature and physique– gave her a swift bow, vanishing into the wind and leaving Mito where she stood, her haori fluttering around her in the cool air.

Ino had managed to forcibly kidnap her after her date with Shikamaru and take her to the only shinobi and kunoichi gear shop that wasn't run by a civilian who was warned against admitting Mito. Thus, Mito had replaced her white kimono for much more practical wear; a simple blue sleeveless top with a mesh shirt underneath that ended around her upper arms, blue pants a similar color that stopped just under her knees, her flesh of her shins hidden by fishnets and shin-guards.

"Beautiful day."

Mito arched her eyebrow at the speaker who was leaning against the outer rim, his head bowed slightly, seemingly enthralled with the small orange book in his hand. She could feel her eye twitching once she saw the title. Jiraiya-oji and his perverted books. She recognized the man reading it quite easily, having seen him only a few days ago.

Hatake Kakashi was well known. She had heard legends about him in the ANBU Corps, but she'd only had a few glimpses of him in the village, though she had to admit he was quite memorable with his mask and shock of spiky grey hair. And his Sharingan Eye.

The Sharingan and Uchihas tended to rub her the wrong way…she had only met one Uchiha that she liked, though there weren't many to begin with, seeing as the Uchiha Massacre had already occurred when she had come to Konoha. She supposed it was an ingrained thing, being a Senju and all.

But Hatake Kakashi was, oddly enough, not an Uchiha, yet he still had their ability to steal jutsu. That was another reason Mito hated the Sharingan. Someone could work hard to get where they were in their Taijutsu and Ninjutsu or even Genjutsu and an Uchiha could use their eyes to copy those techniques in a show of superiority.

"I suppose," Mito said, glancing up at the sky. It was clear and blue, the clouds flowing lazily against the azure. She smiled, reminded of Shikamaru.

"We weren't properly introduced before," Kakashi added, snapping his book shut to survey her. "I'm Hatake Kakashi."

"So I've heard," Mito said simply, putting two fingers in her mouth and releasing a piercing whistle as her apprentice rounded the corner. "That's good enough, Matsuri!"

The brunette who had joined Kakashi's team several days previously now had a face so red that it was almost purple. It seemed like Mito was a harsh sensei.

"I can-keep-go-ing!" Matsuri gasped, her voice feeble and punctuated by hasty breaths, but Kakashi was sure that she would fall over quite soon if she was forced to continue. Did Mito make a habit of running her apprentices into the ground? It seemed like a Gai tactic to him… He grimaced. Of course it was, Gai had probably been the one to assist her Taijutsu training when Shikaku-sama had been away.

"You'll destroy the tendons in your ankles if you keep it up," Mito warned, "I don't want you to add too much weight to the weights so that you'll be faster than Fuu when she gets here."

Matsuri scowled. "But-I was-your appren-tice first!"

It seemed that Mito had two apprentices vying for her attention…not unlike his own squad.

"Matsuri," Mito said, her voice containing an air of patience, "everyone learns at a different pace, besides, Fuu was a kunoichi before, she has more experience in training." Mito strode towards her downtrodden apprentice, her smile kindly as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are accelerating at an exceptional rate, Matsuri, I may have to return you to Suna within the next seven months."

Kakashi arched an eyebrow at that; the child was of Suna? That might be a little difficult, seeing as their relationship with their ally was a bit strained.

"Go head on home," Mito said, nodding back towards the village, "you deserve a break."

Matsuri was caught somewhere halfway between relief at her dismissal and elation at her praise, but she remembered her manners. She bowed her head shortly, enough that was respectful but not low enough that she would have lost her balance, before jogging off on wobbly legs in the direction of the Senju compound, leaving Mito alone with Kakashi.

"Sharingan no Kakashi, the last of the Yondaime Hokage's students," she said, gazing over him with mild fascination. Seeing him up close was a bit different, and he'd been a bit in the background the times she had seen him before at the Mission Desk. "I don't like the Sharingan."

"Not many do," Kakashi said with a soft, muffled chuckle.

Mito's lips twitched. "Senju Mito, at your service, Hatake-san."

"Just Kakashi's fine." Kakashi waved a careless hand in front of his face.

"Kakashi-san," Mito corrected herself, "tell me…how are you liking having my cousin on your squad?"

"Naruto's…interesting."

She released a short laugh that echoed in the silence as she began to walk towards the opened gates. "That's the word to describe him…he's very loud…I understand he gets that from his mother."

Kakashi froze, seeming to be almost carved from ice. "Excuse me?"

Mito rolled her eyes. "Please, don't insult me, Kakashi-san, the resemblance is uncanny…his father was on the same team as Yoshino-san, his god-mother, she was more than willing to inform him of his true heritage, as long as he promised to keep quiet about it." Her eyes softened. "He was just happy to know who his parents were…apart from the fact that the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside him…that kind of pissed him off."

Kakashi wasn't sure what he expected. She was right about the resemblance, and about Naruto being more like his mother than his father. Just how much did she know about Naruto? Kakashi recalled the events surrounding her sudden training mission more than a year ago, specifically her red chakra. That chakra was only associated to Jinchuuriki and their Bijuu, so how could Mito use it?

"Can't say that I blame him," Mito said with a light scoff, "after all…who would want to be a weapon?"

There was a definite bitterness to her voice, but Kakashi couldn't be certain why. The Jinchuuriki of Suna wasn't well known, but he knew for a fact that he was male, or he might have thought it to be Mito.

"I'll see you around, Kakashi-san," she called back to him, her eyes sharp. "Your team is going to need a lot of work, by the looks of it."

Well, she wasn't wrong there.

* * *

Ino's brow was beaded with sweat, and her muscles burned as she dodged and ducked and parried Mito's attacks with her own.

"You know," she grunted, her fist colliding with Mito's, the chakra repelling each other instantly, sending the pair skidding backwards in the training area deep inside Mito's lands, "this wouldn't be so difficult if-" She leapt over Mito's kick. "-you would stop training so hard! I'll never catch up!"

"If you have time to complain, you have time to train," Mito retorted, ducking under Ino's strike, bending to force her palms against the ground, catching Ino's arm between the both of her legs, crossed to incapacitate her limb.

Ino struggled to free her arm, therefore losing her concentration and thus allowing Mito to knock her legs out from under her, sending both of them to the ground.

A groan escaped Ino's lips as Mito leapt lightly to her feet. "Are all you Senju this kickass?"

Mito hadn't really thought about it before, and a pondering expression overtook her face as Ino sat up, rubbing her shoulders to rid them of the kinks. "I suppose it's in our blood," Mito said as an afterthought before bending down to sit cross-legged before her friend. "But we have only been as good as we train to be."

"How good are your siblings?" Ino asked her, taking note of the smile that adorned her features at the mention of her siblings.

"Very," she laughed, "you may face them in the next Chuunin Exams, if Asuma-sensei deems you capable."

"What're their names, again?"

"Temari's the oldest, then Kankurou, and Gaara."

Ino fastened on how she said the last name, with so much sorrow and regret.

"Gaara," she said the name slowly, "that's your twin brother, right?"

"Gaara's…complicated," Mito said, her eyes cast downwards to the earth, into which she dug her fingers.

"Complicated?" Ino prodded. She knew all too well the treatment towards Jinchuuriki, or at least, she knew how Naruto was treated, and that wasn't well. Mito was treated just as poorly for her exposure to Bijuu chakra in the womb, but Gaara had to be the true Jinchuuriki.

Mito heaved a heavy sigh. "My brother is insane and psychopathic."

Ino recoiled slightly in surprise. Oh all the things she would have thought…this was not one of them.

"I told you about my childhood, right?" Mito asked her, to which she received a nod in return. "I was his protector when we were kids, I looked out for him more than anyone did, except maybe Yashamaru-oji." Her eyes softened to a gentle plum. "He was the sweetest thing…all he wanted to do was help people." Ino smiled with her, seeing the resemblance. "But no one wanted his help." Mito's lips twisted into an angry scowl and her eyes darkened; Ino doubted she'd ever seen her so angry. "He was just a monster, and so was I." Her teeth pulled at the inside of her mouth. "I suppose you could say he took on my murderous persona."

Mito's hand dropped to her stomach, to where the circular scar lay from when he had gored her through when their paths had crossed on a mission, directly before she had been brought into ANBU.

"He's lucky to have a sister like you."

Mito jerked her head up in surprise to stare at the blonde, stunned. So stunned that Ino had to laugh.

"I mean it," she assured her, "You stood up for a little kid who was frightened of the people who hated him."

"I was a demon of slaughter," Mito corrected, flopping back onto the ground, her arms thrown above her head as she scowled up towards the sky through the trees. "No one's proud of that…that was one of the reasons I was drawn to Medical Ninjutsu in the first place."

"What d'you mean?" Ino asked in confusion.

"For every life that I took," Mito mused, "I wanted one to be saved…and then I was drafted into ANBU and…" And she was forced to kill once more; it was a wonder it had taken her so long to quit.

Ino's face soured. "Alright, that's enough."

Mito blinked and looked up at Ino as she pulled her to her feet.

"Look, you're the one who's always saying look ahead, not behind," Ino said with a bit of impatience, "you're expecting too much of yourself and of others."

"Hm?" Mito tilted her head in confusion.

"Gaara isn't going to get back to his usual self overnight," Ino told her, "and you can't blame yourself for what he's become…but its Naruto you expect too much of."

"I do?" Mito asked blankly, staring at her in surprise.

Ino sighed, tugging lightly on the lock of her hair that fell over her eye. "I can agree that Naruto's improved over the year and his fighting style is perfect for him, but tactics aren't really his strong suit and he doesn't really have the brain for them like you and Shikamaru…but he wants so hard to make you happy that he'll read those books on strategy even if they don't make any sense, because he doesn't want to disappoint you." Ino squeezed her fingers and Mito bit her lip.

"I'll talk to Naruto," she said.

"Good," Ino beamed, releasing her hands to stretch her arms high above her head, yawning widely. "Well, later! I've got to meet up with Asuma-sensei and the boys, we might be seeing you soon!" She gave her an overly-done wink before dashing away, leaving Mito to her thoughts for only a brief time before a familiar flare of chakra alerted her to a new presence.

"How may I be of service, Ibiki-san?" Mito asked diplomatically as the scarred Tokubetsu Jounin stepped into the light. She was familiar with the man, but far more with Anko who was just slightly on the creepy side, but Morino Ibiki didn't need to be creepy, he could scare grown men shitless and his T&I techniques were greatly feared.

"You could give me your honest assessment on Yamanaka Ino," he said, his voice low and gruff.

Mito balked at the rather blunt order, startled more than anything. This was not a question she had been anticipating from him.

"In what aspect?" She asked finally.

"All of them."

Mito nodded in understanding, straightening her back and informing the man. "Her skill in Genjutsu is adequate but only for disruption, she doesn't have much other skill for it. Her Medical Ninjutsu is possibly her best skill, you won't find many in the village as good at it as she is. Her Hiden Jutsu is probably her next best, closely followed by her Taijutsu as she's taken to wearing weights to increase her speed. Ninjutsu isn't bad, per se, and it's rising, though not as fast as her other skills."

Ibiki listened intently as Mito listed off her friend's abilities.

"Can I ask what this is about?" She inquired mildly.

"You can," he grunted, "we're considering drafting her into the Intelligence Corps as soon as she hits Chuunin."

Mito's eyes widened slightly. To be scouted as an Intel-op was a huge accomplishment, especially at thirteen, it was something not even Mito had managed, but clearly Ino excelled at it.

"Does Inoichi-san know?" She asked.

Ibiki grunted. "Not yet."

"I see," she said slowly. "Do you want me to mention it to Inoichi-san?"

He grunted again, forcing her to resist rolling her eyes.

"Great," she said dryly, "I'll add it to the list of things I need to do."

It seemed to be steadily getting longer…why was it that she always seemed to have something to do these days?

* * *

"Ino's had a word with me about you," Mito said the next day as she walked with him on his way to his team's meeting spot, despite knowing that his sensei would be hours late.

Naruto winced, the chagrin barely hidden on his face. "Oh, yeah? What about?"

"Your inability to learn tactics."

He flinched this time, earning a firm glance from his cousin, one that he missed with his eyes winced shut, his lips grimacing as he lifted his arms up behind his head to cup the back of his neck. It was a movement that Mito was all too familiar with, one that seemed to be his fall-back if he had nothing to do with his hands.

"It's alright," she assured him with a short laugh, tucking her hands into the pockets of her haori. "Ino was right; I shouldn't have expected you to pick it up right away."

Naruto chanced a glance towards her, and the sincerity shone in her eyes. "Really?"

She ruffled his hair affectionately. It was spikier than before and much different from his father's. "Really. Shikamaru-kun and I…I guess we think a bit differently than most people do, a lot don't get into tactics until they start going on serious missions, that's where you'll get your real experience, and you're better at thinking on the fly than most people."

"I am? I mean, of course I am!" Naruto corrected quickly, his chest puffing out in pride.

Mito didn't bother to hide her chuckles. "So…how are you liking your team!"

"Sasuke's a bastard," Naruto told her in a dry manner.

"So you like him, then?" Mito arched an eyebrow before erupting into peals of laughter that echoed in the quiet morning as though a number of birds had decided to chirp at the same time. The reason for her laughter was the expression of complete revulsion plastered to his face as though she couldn't have said anything more insulting. "Having a rival is always good."

"Do you have one?" Naruto asked in a sulky voice.

"Apart from Shikamaru-kun? No." Mito's lips curled slightly as she repeated the words that Shikaku had told her when she had first begun training with him. "If heavenly qualities are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher."

"Eh?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"You'll understand eventually," Mito replied with a laugh, "besides, as Shikaku-sensei says, ' _you are your own worst enemy_.'"

"Shikaku-oji says a lot of weird things," Naruto muttered as they rounded a corner.

"But important." Mito prodded him in the side with her surprisingly sharp elbow. Naruto muffled his complaint, the bright grin on his face infectious.

"Damn, I should probably grab the pedestrian ledger for Sandaime-sama," Mito added, smacking her forehead as she recalled her obligations to the Hokage. "Well, see you later, Naruto!"

"Later!" he called after her. "If you're not too busy sucking Shikamaru's face!"

Two seconds later a punch to his back sent him barreling forward, leaving a long line of upturned dirt into which he collapsed face-first, his flesh throbbing where her fist had connected. Mito, her face bright red, ignored his condition as she stalked away angrily, while on the very edge of the village, where the gates were thrown open, two shinobi entered, their identification verified swiftly.

Kankurou was glad he'd won the coin toss with Temari as to who would accompany Baki on his mission to Konoha, because if they were going to Konoha then they would undoubtedly see Mito, however…

Kankurou swallowed, the guilt swelling in his heart. The plans were already underway, and in five months time they would invade the village with Oto. He couldn't imagine what his father hoped to gain from such an act, but he was the good soldier who would do his bidding, even if Mito…

He gritted his teeth, because of course Mito would stand between an invasion between her old village and her new home. She chose Konoha over Suna, hadn't she?

"Nii-san?" Her sudden voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Guess she wasn't lying about having siblings," the man who had checked his identification grunted with a grin towards the owner of the voice just beyond him.

A flash of red blinded him as his younger sister vaulted into him, the force nearly sending him to the ground. "H-Hey, Mito."

Baki's lips curled downwards slightly, and Kankurou knew why. He didn't approve of the closeness he and Temari shared towards their younger sister, especially considering that they would be attacking her village. Baki was worried that they might let something slip.

Mito released him, grinning brightly, so brightly that Kankurou was nearly blinded a second time. "Hi! I haven't seen you in months!"

Kankurou quirked an eyebrow at her. "And whose fault is that?"

Mito scowled, her lips twisting into an unamused scowl. "It must be your charming disposition, Nii-san." She turned away from him to smile kindly at the two shinobi on guard duty. "Kotetsu, Izumo."

"Mito-sama," they replied as one.

"Hokage-sama sent me for the pedestrian ledger," Mito said, leaning her elbows on the podium and grinning at them.

"Of course he did," Kotetsu said, yawning widely as Izumo handed her what she had requested. "When're we going to be replaced on this job?"

"Hokage-sama only puts people where they're needed," Mito said, her grin very nearly a smirk.

Kotetsu's eye twitched. "Are you calling me useless?"

Izumo grabbed his partner's arm so he wouldn't embarrass himself further, as the two Suna shinobi were a bit befuddled by his attitude. "Kotetsu, you don't want to enter into a verbal spar with Mito-sama, her sensei _is_ Shikaku-sama."

Kotetsu grumbled as he was forced back into his seat, an act that made Mito's grin widen, glumly waving the trio off.

"Are you staying long?" Mito inquired, tugging lightly on her brother's sleeve, but it was Baki who answered, as stiff and polite as always.

"No, Mito-sama, we are only here to give the Hokage a personal missive from Kazekage-sama," he said shortly and without much feeling. Kankurou could see that Mito was quick to pick up on it, judging by the way her eyes narrowed.

"I see," she said simply before she called out to someone Kankurou didn't see at first. "Ino! Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?"

A head tilted towards her and grinned. Ino…Kankurou recognized the name, she was one of Mito's friends, she was also, he had to admit, very pretty. Her eyes were a shade of turquoise that Kankurou had never seen before on anyone, going rather well with her pale hair hiked high up in a ponytail that swung as she moved towards Mito, slinging her arm over the girl's shoulders.

"Got done early, your girl Matsuri can sniff out poisons better than a ninken," Ino told her, before leaning around her to get a look at Kankurou. "Damn! Who's Mr. Hottie?"

Kankurou's eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared under his hood, while Baki coughed uncomfortably, and Mito tossed her a glance of confusion. "Wh- Oh, you mean Kankurou?"

Ino's eyes slid up and down Kankurou's body and he had the strangest feeling that he was being analyzed. "Wait…Kankurou as in…your bother Kankurou?"

"Well, it's not really a common name, is it?" Mito asked, scratching her cheek with her nail, her smile a half-grimace, half-grin, showcasing her sheepish feeling.

"Your family's got a really good gene pool don't they?" Ino asked, examining his face closely, so much so that Kankurou had to lean back slightly.

"You're scaring him," Mito reminded her lightly.

"She's really not," Kankurou told her with a small laugh. Gaara scared him, pretty girls didn't; though he admitted they could be pretty deadly, all the same.

"Mito must favor your mother…so your features must come from your father," Ino mused, cupping her chin in her hand, "the only likeness is the hair…that I can see."

Kankurou's eyes flickered towards Mito; he had missed how her hair was no longer in the same calm locks that they had been in before. Her resemblance to Gaara was more startling than it had been before.

"I have more Senju in me," Mito said with a shrug, "we don't share my Kekkei Genkai."

Kekkei Genkai? What? When had Mito ever had a Kekkei Genkai?

"What are you talking about?" Kankurou asked, befuddled by his sister's words.

Mito threw an annoyed glance towards Ino, as if she was the cause of her misery. "I have two Kekkei Genkai, one's inherited, the **Futton (Boil Release),** the other's not, the **Mokuton (Wood Release)."**

Kankurou gaped at her and even Baki showed miniscule surprise. "And you didn't tell me?"

Mito wrinkled her nose and turned her head away from him. "I don't see how it's any of your business what jutsu I can and can't do," she retorted haughtily. "Besides, I don't even know if I can use the Mokuton, and I've only used the Futton a few times…it's pretty volatile."

"Yeah, the coating of acid on your skin was pretty killer."

"Ino!"

"What?" Ino demanded. "Admit it, it was pretty sweet."

Mito rolled her eyes and Kankurou frowned thoughtfully. It was true that Mito had more Senju running through her veins than Sabaku, that much was obvious, but their lineage was split three ways; Suna, Konoha, and Kiri. Kiri had to have been from where Mito's Futton originated, from a woman named Suiren who had married the Nidaime Hokage, Kankurou's great-grandfather, Senju Tobirama. Somewhere along the generation or so after Tobirama, his descendents had disappeared from Konoha, kidnapping had been the assumption when Karura and Yashamaru, their mother and uncle, sought refuge in Suna.

"How did you get the Mokuton if it wasn't inherited?" Kankurou asked.

Mito's eyes darkened briefly, closing her eyes as she remembered _him._

"Perhaps a blood Senju will do," he'd said.

"That's classified," Mito said shortly, pausing as a man garbed in the medic-nin uniform appeared at her side. "Mito-sama! We need you at the hospital!"

"I'll be there, what injuries?" Kankurou had barely seen his sister in her element as a medic-nin, but the direct and confident way in which she spoke was one that demanded attention.

"Severe lacerations and a poison we can't identify," the man informed her.

Ino took the sheet of paper that held the information that the Hokage needed. "I've got you covered."

Mito gave her a brief smile of thanks, making a hand sign. "See you, Nii-san, Baki-san, say hi to Temari and Gaara for me." She vanished, leaving only mist in her wake.

"Always on the move," Ino muttered before her cheeks flooded with heat, realizing the two Suna shinobi were still able to hear her. "So! The Hokage's at the top level. You'll have to inform the secretary of your reason for being here…" She gestured a bit uselessly towards the tower in which the Hokage resided.

Baki gave a short inclination of the head, but Kankurou's attention remained on Ino as he held out two scrolls to her. "Could you pass these on to Matsuri? She might find them useful."

Her eyebrows drew together in confusion but she agreed to do so.

"Can I ask you something?" she said, sounding strangely serious.

"About what?" Kankurou tilted his head slightly, a movement that made him look even more like a cat with the points on his hood (though the war paint ruined the image).

The wind rustled her hair, drawing the strand in front of her eye away slightly as she tapped her fingers lightly over the scrolls. "Her brother…Gaara…is he really as bad as she says?"

He contemplated her for a moment. Mito was always a bit…difficult when dealing with her twin; she had a habit of sugarcoating his bloodthirsty nature. "No," he said, "he's much worse."


	11. A Gift of Iron Sand

Mito couldn't fathom why exactly the Sandaime wanted her opinion on mission members, but she tried to see it from Shikamaru's perspective. She had to view everything from an analytical point of view to decide how a team would best operate.

"Do you even use these suggestions?" she asked at long last late one night. "I don't have any experience in this area, you know." She jabbed her pencil in his direction as if that made her point all the clearer, however, it did not.

"You don't," he agreed, looking up from the scroll he was inspecting. His dark eyes were illuminated by the flicker of the lantern hung so that their work could be continued into the night. Mito was still finding the work as grating as before, but then again, she only worked part time, usually taking mornings off to train Matsuri, so that was a plus. "However, I still find your insight valuable."

"Shikaku-sensei said that too when he was trying to convince me to do that IQ test when I was half-blind," Mito grumbled under her breath. "Are you ever going to tell me why I've been… _recruited_?"

"Not at this time."

Mito barely refrained from smacking her face, but it was a very near thing. Why was the Hokage being so purposefully aggravating? Or maybe it was just because it was her and she was now a Genin. Mito couldn't understand why he'd value her opinion in the first place, basing this first that she was born in another village and second that her rank was so low.

She glanced over to the Hokage in question who had stiffened his chest and jaw in a movement that Mito recognized as one used to strain a yawn, she'd seen Shikaku do it a few times during meetings. She sighed; she was turning too soft.

"You go on, Hokage-sama," she said, "I'll finish up things here."

The words seemed to jar Hiruzen out of his thoughts –he must have been incredibly engrossed in his work. "That's alright," he chuckled softly, "I've been doing this job a long time, Mito."

Mito frowned, glancing towards the portraits on the wall that held the four Hokage, Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and Namikaze Minato. Mito's eyes lingered on the last frame, the one that held Naruto's father. His death had forced Hiruzen to take office once more.

"I can handle your paperwork just fine, Sandaime-sama," she said dryly, rolling her eyes in disdain, "and I promise not to touch the…delicate documents, shall we say? Or you could just put those ones away yourself…"

And within a matter of minutes, Mito was left on her own with a large pile of scrolls and documents resting before her. The silence was calming in a way, especially to Mito who was someone so used to noise of some sort intruding into her life, but it had been remarkably quiet for the past few hours so it wasn't too different. Being back in Konoha brought the noise back into her life. She blamed Ino and Naruto mainly for this…loudmouthed blondes that they were.

Mito expelled a breath, the sound surprisingly loud in the empty room, bouncing off the walls. She muttered a low complaint, searching through the papers on her desk for one in particular when her eyes fell across a report on Team Seven. By now, they'd nearly been a team for two months and were only two jobs short of their first C-rank, while the other freshly-minted Genin teams were only one away; Mito suspected this more had to do with the fact that none of the skill-sets of Team Seven complimented each other and their personalities clashed often. Team Eight was one clearly intended for tracking with the Byakugan, an Inuzuka's nose, and kikaichuu beetles at their disposal. Team Ten was one that relied on each other with the Hiden techniques of their families, usually resulting in their opponent's incapacitation, but the same could not be said for Team Seven. A genius, a 'failure', and a fangirl…Mito had to wonder if they really had it in them to last as a team.

Mito's fingers looped around the red gem hanging from her neck; it felt warm under her fingers, comforting. Mito closed her eyes, recalling the weight of a hand on her head that ruffled her hair affectionately and the brush of lips, warm and comforting, motherly…

She leaned her head into her hand, smoothing a hand over the skin above her left eye. She hadn't seen even a glimpse of her mother in years and she told Shikaku that it didn't bother her, but they both knew that she was lying.

Mito shook her head out of her thoughts, straightening the mess of documents in front of her until only a small pile remained for her to examine. Mito scrutinized one with particular intensity, as it was one concerning the relationship between Suna and Konoha…judging by the lessened amount of products bought between the villages, it was becoming more strained than it had been before. That explained the stiffness to Baki's voice and stature when he had been in-village less than a week ago with Kankurou.

Mito could theorize a few reasons for why there was so much tension between her old village and her new village, but none of them were good and-

"Think positive," she muttered to herself, bumping the eraser on her pencil to her lip. "However, realistically…" She scowled, hiding her face behind her hand, leaning back in her chair.

Something boded ill to Mito, but she couldn't quite be sure what it was.

"I'm never going to get this all finished if I keep thinking like that," Mito grumbled to the empty room. "Forget about it and get back to work."

Of course, the first sign of insanity was talking to oneself, but Mito knew all about insanity, her twin brother being a primary example.

Mito forced her eyes back to the paper in front of her and began to write once more.

* * *

"You saw her, didn't you? You saw Mito?"

"Of course I saw Mito," Kankurou scoffed towards his older sister, stabbing at his salted tongue with a renewed aggression; the chef had cooked it too long, judging by how tough it was to chew, but it was still pretty good (he would have preferred the steak, but they were conveniently out). "She lives there, doesn't she?"

Temari punched him harshly in the arm, earning a hastily muffled complaint in return. "Well?" she demanded.

"I barely saw her more than a few minutes," Kankurou retorted, rubbing at the bruised flesh from her strike. "Baki didn't want to stay long and Mito's got patients at the hospital to worry about."

Temari snapped her fingers as if suddenly remembering something. "Wait, did you hand over those scrolls to her? The ones I gave you?"

"Yeah, yeah, her friend'll give 'em to her," Kankurou said unconcerned, his eyes drifting slightly as he recalled the blonde-haired girl with the carefree smile.

"Friend? Which friend?" Temari asked suspiciously.

"Blonde, green eyes, pretty, loud…her name's Ino, Mito told us about her, remember?" Kankurou said before taking a thick swallow from his drink.

His elder sister's eyes narrowed at the description he gave, and then she smirked. "Don't tell me…you liked her?"

Kankurou coughed and spluttered, spraying water onto the ground, embarrassment gracing his features. "I don't know what you're talking about," he denied. "She's barely more than a pretty face."

"Look underneath the underneath, dear brother," Temari mocked. "Mito mentioned Ino along with deception, something tells me she's a lot more competent than she seems."

Kankurou made a small scoffing noise. "What was in those scrolls you dug up, anyways?"

"Information on the **Jiton** ," Temari said with a shrug, "and a container with a sample of iron sand."

Kankurou, who had mistakenly believed it to be safe to eat a bit of his meat was quite mistaken, choked for a brief moment on the tongue. "W-What? But that's the Sandaime's—"

Temari shot her brother a filthy look. "You really have no idea who that Matsuri girl is, do you?"

"Should I?" Kankurou asked, his voice laced in annoyance as it often was when dealing with his sister, but a glance behind her had him falling abruptly silent, his heart beating frantically in his chest.

It was Gaara. His hair was just as wild as his twin's, if not more so, but his jade eyes were blank and emotionless as Mito's violet ones were bright and full of light. The pair couldn't be more different. Killer and healer, dark and light, sand and water.

Gaara's eyes shifted briefly towards him, narrowing slightly and Kankurou flinched backwards, averting his eyes slightly as his brother walked past them and into his room. Temari let out a breath she'd been holding in.

"So…Matsuri," Kankurou said, coughing uncomfortably, "who is she really?"

"She's the Sandaime Kazekage's granddaughter," Temari told him. "The only one to have inherited his Kekkei Genkai and the only one who could be able to use his iron sand."

Kankurou could understand now his father's reluctance to allow Mito to take Matsuri with her for study in Medical Ninjutsu…with the right training, she might even be as strong as her grandfather. "But I heard Mito said she had an aversion towards weapons…why would she want to learn a technique that could create weapons from iron sand?"

"I think you're missing the point," Temari said, prodding her chopsticks in his direction. "The best offense can be a pretty good defense, just look at Gaara's **Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand)**. She doesn't need a weapon if she's got Mito's hand-to-hand combat and knowledge of the human body, chakra points, and poison. Effectively, she could be an exceptionally dangerous kunoichi, maybe even as good as Mito."

"Nobody's as good as Mito," Kankurou grumbled. "She destroyed two of my puppets."

"She was also trained by Akasuna no Sasori and Senju Tsunade," Temari reminded him. "Can't imagine how tough those two were…you think she's going to be a problem during the invasion."

Kankurou bit the inside of his cheek. "There's got to be a part of you that thinks invading Konoha sounds like a bad idea."

"It doesn't matter what I think," Temari responded coolly, swishing around the water in her cup, "we have our orders and we'll follow them."

"She's going to be fighting on the opposite side," Kankurou added, "…what happens if we have to face her at some point?"

"Hope that our jutsu have improved enough to overwhelm her," Temari said with a sigh. "I don't like it either…but Mito chose Konoha over Suna a long time ago."

Kankurou heaved a heavy sigh, his eyes falling to a corner where his Crow rested against a wall. He had been able to make a complete replica of the one that Mito had broken. That raw strength…it wasn't like anything that Gaara was capable of. Gaara relied on his sand to do the work, often remaining stationary, but Mito was a kunoichi whose skill depended on movement. He hadn't even seen her use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, just Taijutsu.

"She has two Kekkei Genkai."

"Huh?" Temari asked, stunned by this new information. "Two? How can she?"

"The **Futton** from Kaa-sama's family in Kiri, and the **Mokuton** ," Kankurou explained, "but she might just be a carrier for it, she said she'd never used it before."

"Well, **Futton's** not that surprising, considering she's more Suiton-based than most Suna-shinobi are," Temari mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Mito always had been a bit of an odd one. Water in the middle of the desert, no wonder she fit in better with the shinobi of Konoha.

"Did you manage to see her elusive boyfriend?" she asked as an afterthought.

"No…he might've been on a mission…" Kankurou frowned slightly in annoyance at the thought before quickly switching the subject. "Should we tell Tou-sama about her bloodline limit?"

Half of him didn't want to, but they'd need any upper hand they could get against her.

"We'll have to," Temari muttered, imagining the expression of rage and disgust that her younger sister's face would bare once she realized the act Suna had committed against Konoha. She had never had such a look directed towards her, however, she remembered it preceding a particularly vicious attack.

* * *

"Iron's heavier…than it looks!"

Matsuri's shoulder was already aching from the weight of the gourd on her back that was less than half the size of Gaara's and a bit more round in shape.

"That's only half full," Mito added in amusement, replacing a few documents in their appropriate files. Matsuri was following her around in order to get used to the weight resting on her back, and it wasn't going so well. "If you want to get more iron sand, you'll have to make it yourself…and I know you can barely move it with your chakra, I heard the yells last night."

Matsuri's cheeks flooded with heat at the thought of Mito hearing her failure. "Sorry, Shishou."

"Don't apologize," Mito told her swiftly, dropping a hand to her hair. "You're working hard to better yourself, no one will find fault in you for that, least of all, me. I'm still having trouble with my **Futton** techniques, so you're not alone with having trouble with your Kekkei Genkai."

Matsuri glanced towards her master. "Can you really layer acid on your skin and not be affected by it?"

"Of course," Mito's lips curled. "I was quite famous for it at one point. My friends had to make sure it wasn't in affect before they touched me; it was quite a hindrance and even worse for enemy shinobi."

But what were the chances of enemy shinobi getting close enough to tough her acidic flesh?

"I have complete faith in you," Mito assured her apprentice as they walked out the room, only to crash into someone in the hall. Mito grabbed the person by the back of their jacket, tossing them back and against their team who shoved him off quickly.

"Naruto," Mito sighed, "and here I thought you were starting not be quite so clumsy."

"Hey!" the blonde complained. "You're the one who ran into me, not the other way around!"

"I'm sure that's true," Mito said, ruffling her hair with a blank expression, ignoring his teammates as best as she could, something that wasn't too hard to do, though she suspected the Uchiha was just barely restraining himself from demanding her to fight him to prove his strength (which she doubted was as impressive as he believed).

Sakura glanced nervously over the daughter of one of the Sannin. She would be lying if she said that the girl didn't make her nervous, especially given she was foreign-born kunoichi with traits no one else possessed.

Her voice was slightly lower and rougher than females in Konoha typically had, and Sakura was sure that if she was angry, it would drop to a low rasp. Her hair and eyes were an oddity; crimson hair wasn't typical of the people of this village (but Sakura could hardly talk, having pink hair herself) and violet eyes were just strange. And she was strong…strong enough to take Sasuke's attention.

Sakura clenched a hand into a fist at her side.

"It is!"

"I'm not denying it."

"Yes, you are!" Naruto stabbed his finger towards her, a rather rude gesture that flew over Mito's head. "You're using the same voice that Shikaku-oji does when he'd trying to get out of trouble with Yoshino-oba!"

Mito rolled her eyes towards her apprentice who giggled behind her hand. "Enjoy that D-rank today, Naruto, I hear your team is farther behind on their missions than the other Genin teams…something you might want to work on." She arched her eyebrows towards him.

"Why you—!"

Mito waved a farewell, making her way down the hall with Matsuri at her side.

"Shishou, why does the Uchiha look so…" Matsuri considered what would be the best word for the boy, "intense?"

"Possibly because I'm from the Senju clan," Mito said, keeping her eyes ahead and feeling his on the back of her head, "our clans have been fighting for years, and I'm clearly higher than Genin-level in reference towards my skills in battle, he probably just wants to test his worth against me."

"You'd fight against him?" Matsuri asked in surprise. Mito didn't really concede to demands of spars from single shinobi, especially when it could be avoided. She may have been skilled in combat, but being the sole apprentice to Nara Shikaku had taught her that it was better to outwit your opponent than hope you had more powerful jutsu than them. Because what happened if you used up all your chakra before them? Then you'd be a sitting duck and killed for sure. And even Mito, who had Jounin-level chakra reserves, had found herself dangerously close to using up her chakra completely several times. It wasn't a position she'd like to be in, even if she wasn't going on such high ranking missions anymore. It was better to have excess chakra than none.

"No," Mito said simply, "fighting him would be a waste of my time. I'd much rather fight against a more worthy opponent." Her sensei and the other Genin sensei came to mind. Mito didn't think she would last very well against Yuuhi Kurenai, the Genjutsu Mistress, as Genjutsu was her weakest ability out of all three of the techniques, and Hatake Kakashi was most definitely out of her league, but her Suiton jutsu could last a bit against Asuma's Katon-style, but not as long as she could against Gai's Taijutsu. Still, it would be interesting to fight against Kakashi, if she was given the opportunity.

"Besides…he's a prodigy," her tone became just a touch sarcastic, "why would he need to test his skills on someone who actually worked hard to get where they are as opposed to just having it handed to them?"

Matsuri could understand why her Shishou didn't have much of a care for the Uchiha family. Those Sharingan eyes were an unfair advantage, even if Sasuke hadn't activated them yet.

* * *

"Oi! You the guards?"

Kotetsu and Izumo blinked and jerked slightly at the generalized grouping, their eyes lifting to meet the gaze of the young kunoichi who was standing before them, a pack strapped to her back and a hand resting on her cocked hip, an eyebrow arched.

"Name?" Kotetsu asked, his eyes glancing over her form.

The soft brown of her skin told him that she definitely wasn't native to Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), and the orange eyes and mint-colored hair only furthered that assumption.

"Fuu," the girl said shortly, very nearly rudely, "formerly of Takigakure. I'm one of Senju Mito's apprentices…I'm guessing she told you I was coming?" She crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for their response.

Izumo frowned slightly at her. "You aren't expected until tomorrow evening…"

"I got a head start," Fuu said, rolling her eyes, "you can only take so much of sea cuisine before looking at a fish makes you sick."

Well, at least she had a sense of humor.

"We'll still have to corroborate with Mito-sama before you're permitted admittance," Kotetsu told her.

"And how long is that going to take?" Fuu demanded impatiently.

"She could be anywhere," Izumo said in a mild voice, earning a scowl from the girl, only to be briefly distracted by the reappearance of Yuuhi Kurenai and her team of Genin…a team that was best suited for tracking Izumo could see, having a Hyuuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame. "Hey, Kurenai, c'mere!"

Kurenai moved forward, her Genin following her with interest (wasn't it adorable how much they were like little ducklings?), their eyes focused on Fuu who's eyes narrowed in return.

"Everything alright, Izumo, Kotetsu?" Kurenai asked, her eyes drifting towards the girl, her voice gentle.

"Think your squad's up for doing an extra errand?" Kotetsu inquired with a half smile. "We need Senju Mito up here."

Kurenai's eyes widened a fraction and her survey of Fuu became a little tenser. "Hinata," she called behind her, the name causing Fuu's eyes to shift behind her, to the only girl in the group, one who had indigo hair tied in a low ponytail with two tendrils of hair framing her fair face and drawing attention to her pale eyes.

"Kurenai-sensei?" Hinata asked, her voice soft and delicate.

"Would you please use your Byakugan to find Mito-sama?"

Surprise colored her face, but she did as asked, running through the necessary hand signs until the veins on the sides of her eyes stood out. She did not speak for a moment, presumably because she was spreading out her range.

"Found her," she said once a number of seconds had passed.

"Good," Kurenai said, "I want you, Kiba, and Shino to go and inform her that her presence is required at the front gate."

Shino nodded his head, a movement which only served to hide his face even more, but Kiba made a loud complaint, however, he still followed after his teammates as they took off running into the village…

Mito rubbed a finger over her lighter, flicking the flame on and then off again over and over as she contemplated lighting a cigarette, but it was rather a bad habit, especially for someone her age. She'd only done it as a calming mechanism when her hospital shifts got too hectic, but she was trying to get out of the habit…Asuma was going to give himself cancer at the rate he was going through his cigarettes.

"That's a terrible a habit," a familiar voice mentioned as a body sat down beside her on the engawa.

Mito grinned lifting her eyes to meet Inuzuka Hana's dark ones. The young woman smiled as her three ninken companions milled about by her feet. "I know, I'm trying to give it up."

"And how's that going?" Hana retorted, swiping her cooling mug of tea that was resting beside her. "Not bad," she added in reference to the taste.

"Pretty good," Mito responded, flipping the top of the lighter and shoving it back into her pocket, "well, at least I'm busy enough not to think about taking a smoke…how're you, Hana?"

"How am I?" Hana's smile was strangely forced and Mito tried to make a hasty getaway only to find a strong arm around her neck pulling her into a headlock.

"You little _moron!"_ Hana snarled, her resemblance to her mother becoming much more obvious. "You've been back for two whole months and didn't tell me!"

"I figured it would've spread around town rather well," Mito gasped, clawing at Hana's arm.

"Oh, it did," Hana conceded, finally releasing Mito who choked in her effort to regain her breath, "but I'm still annoyed that you didn't come and say hello."

"Hello," Mito said dully, but she was ignored.

"It's just like when we got you back from Orochimaru and you didn't talk to anyone for weeks," Hana complained, not really realizing what she'd said until it was too late.

"I talked to Shikamaru-kun," Mito muttered mutinously under her breath, trying her hardest not to let Hana's words bother her.

"You always talked to that Nara brat," Hana said, throwing one of her legs over the other before tilting her head to look at the girl she had once rescued from the Missing-nin's clutches. She had been so small then, and pale, her veins standing out like intricate blue branches against her flesh. But Mito was older, stronger, and tougher than she had been then, Hana could see it in her eyes. She may not have known her as well as some, but she could be proud of her, of how far she had come from that night, from victim to kunoichi.

"He's my best friend, of course I talked to him," Mito said dryly.

Hana puckered her lips towards the red-head who blushed at the insinuation. "Right…just best friends…who do you think you're fooling?"

"Well, we were at the time," Mito said a bit defensively making the Inuzuka snigger before both heads swiveled in the direction of the opening into the compound where three young Genin had skidded to a halt.

"Hana! What're you doing here?" Kiba demanded, racing into the compound where the two females were sitting.

"What d'you think I'm doing here, you little runt?" Hana said, a tick mark making its appearance on her head accompanied by a scowl towards her younger brother. "I'm here to see Mito, that's what."

"Then our goal is the same," Shino said impassively as Hinata smiled kindly at Mito. She was not as close to the Senju as Ino was, but they were still very good friends and Hinata hadn't seen much of her in the past few weeks. Mito smiled in return.

"Hm?" Mito cocked her head to the side slightly in confusion. It couldn't have been because of Matsuri, she was on another mission with Team Seven –she would switch to Team Eight in two days–, so what could it be?

"You're needed at the front gate," Kiba told her in the brash manner that was typical of the Inuzuka clan.

The confusion became more pronounced in her violet eyes. "Why? Is there a problem?" Fuu wasn't to arrive until late tomorrow…

"A young kunoichi approximately fourteen years of age is waiting there," Shino informed her in the curt manner than the Aburames were known for. "Her features are more common in Takigakure and Kusagakure's provinces."

Those words must have meant something to Mito because her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face.

"So Fuu made it, did she?" she mused to herself.

"She must've left a bit earlier than she'd planned," Mito added to the air, as if it was not as startling as it seemed. "I'll go check on her and take her to Inoichi-san so he can verify her…"

She bid a farewell to Hana who shot her a slightly exasperated expression in return as she waved to the young Genin, skipping off in the direction of the front gate.

"Am I the only one who thinks Shikamaru got really lucky?" Kiba wondered aloud, before grunting as his sister nailed him in the stomach harshly with her heel.

* * *

"You really know how to pick them, don't you?" Inoichi sighed towards his friend's apprentice who in turn stared through the one-sided glass into the interrogation room where Fuu sat, completely at ease in the darkened room. "A **Jiton** user and a former Jinchuuriki…sometimes I wonder if you just have the strangest luck."

"An interesting theory," Mito shot back, "you'll have to take it up with Sensei; he'd know best."

"Shikaku hardly deals with luck," Inoichi said dryly.

"No," Mito admitted, "but he does deal with me."

"Hm…Indeed," Inoichi hummed to himself, his eyes following hers through the glass to look upon her apprentice. She was an interesting character to say the least, it was impressive she was so stable given how terrible her upbringing was compared to Naruto's (as was protocol, Inoichi had thoroughly examined her memories but had found nothing that set off the usual signals of lying and espionage). She reminded him a little of Mito in that aspect, considering how she had once described her childhood, but she was stubborn, headstrong, and crude…Inoichi sighed. She was an awful lot like Ino.

"There was one thing that had me curious," he added.

Mito's eyes shifted from her apprentice to Inoichi as if to invite him to go on.

"To overload the chakra coils takes a large amount of chakra," Inoichi said, "why did you bother?"

Her mouth twisted downwards and Inoichi wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "I know what it is to be feared and reviled for something outside of your control." Her eyes fell to her hand and Inoichi could see that she was twisting a ring around her finger, a ring that seemed to be made of sand. "That kind of darkness…it can swallow you up, that's why I fought to save her, Inoichi-san, because she reminded me of the girl I used to be, the girl that was a demon who killed under the light of the moon…I wanted to prove to her that there is more to this world than the hate that Taki directed unjustly towards her, and she proved me right."

" _Mito-sensei took me in,"_ Fuu had said only moments ago, her eyes serious and her face solemn, _"she gave me a home, taught me how to heal and protect…she told me I had potential to be something great…it was the first time anyone thought I could amount to anything. Without her I wouldn't be alive…I wouldn't have this chance to start fresh and be better."_

"You seem to have made quite the impression on your students," Inoichi mentioned.

"They are easily impressed," Mito downplayed it.

"There seems to be no issues with admitting her into the Shinobi Corps," Inoichi said after a long moment, "she will be granted the title of Genin in about two days…I hear Team One is the first squad to be made completely of medic-nin."

Mito smiled brightly in the semi-darkness, that one accomplishment pleasing her greatly.


	12. Journey to Nanakusa Island

"Is this what a typical day is like for you?" Shikamaru asked, amusement lining his face, nodding towards the pair that were fighting in the open space of the compound. "Shouldn't you stop them?"

"Eh, let them get it out of their system," Mito said, swinging her legs over the side of the engawa, half watching the shogi game in front of her, half watching the fight between her two apprentices.

"Move your feet, Fuu! Use more power in your strikes, Matsuri!" she called over to them, making the pair trip and stumble in their spar, but they quickly regained their ground.

An arched eyebrow in her direction garnered her attention. "What?"

"You seem like a good sensei," Shikamaru said simply, lifting one shoulder to shrug as he took one of her pawns.

"I'm alright," Mito said, "but I'll be glad when they've completed their apprenticeships…having two apprentices is a hassle."

"We can hear you!" Fuu snapped over to her and Mito ducked swiftly as a kunai lodged in the wood frame behind her. Shikamaru had to blink a few times, the surprise evident on his face, but Mito was unfazed, simply pulling it out of the wood with a small jerk and twisting it in her hand. Fuu reminded Shikamaru an awful lot of Ino, only far more brash and rude.

"Then you should be focusing more on your opponent," Mito returned easily as Matsuri swung her legs out, unbalancing Fuu.

She frowned at the game in front of her before moving a lance and capturing his rook. "I'll need to spend a good deal of time away from them once these last few months are up…being around them for so long is affecting me negatively."

A smirk played across Shikamaru's lips. "Is that so?"

It was the small inflections that he used in his voice that caused such a change in her, much to his silent amusement. He could make her blush by using a small lilt in his voice, something he would never have imagined before. He remembered the first time he'd actually noticed the pale pink spreading across her cheeks more than a year ago; he hadn't understood it at first. Mito couldn't have been blushing, could she?

He'd gone to his father first for advice. His father who had taken one look at him and laughed.

"It's not funny!" he'd insisted.

Shikaku had ruffled his hair–a rather annoying habit that grated on his nerves–a smile still present on his lips. "Why wouldn't Mito have a crush on you, Shikamaru?"

A crush? Those words had thrown Shikamaru through a loop. The idea that someone could look at him in the romantic sense was highly doubtful. "Because I'm…you know!" He had dug his heel into the ground in aggravation. "Shouldn't she like Sasuke or something?"

Shikaku had snorted at the prospect of his apprentice having any kind of affection towards the last Uchiha. "The Uchiha and the Senju have a long history of hate, Shikamaru, besides, Mito's not shallow enough to fall for the same tall, dark, and handsome ideal that so many women do."

"Yeah, but…me?" Shikamaru's voice had shrunk at the idea.

"Who else is there?" Shikaku had asked, dropping a much larger hand onto his shoulder. "Mito clearly has a thing for smart, dark-haired, brown-eyed lads."

Shikamaru wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, but he could feel the heat rising in his face and could so the smirk becoming more pronounced on his father's, so the best course of action –in his mind– was a tactical retreat, however, he hadn't taken more than a few steps when he collided with someone with bright red hair, sending them tumbling arm over leg down a short hill, Shikamaru's lips colliding with hers, his father's laughter echoing and loud behind him.

"You know you could always play against Asuma-sensei if I'm boring you," Mito's voice penetrated his clouded thoughts and he looked up suddenly.

"I've played him a few times…he's not so good," Shikamaru told her, canting his head slightly.

"What're you thinking about?" Mito sang, her voice light as Fuu swore loudly, ducking under Matsuri's swipe.

"When we fell down that hill," Shikamaru said honestly.

Mito knew of which hill he was speaking of and a renewed flush adorned her cheeks. "Oh?"

"You are still one troublesome girlfriend."

"So you've said," Mito laughed, rolling her eyes as she tapped the side of her temple with a finger, "but I'm smart enough to keep up with you, so that's something."

"Yeah…that's something." His eyes focused on her for a long moment and Mito ducked her head slightly.

"Geez, it's like you two don't have a romantic bone between the two of you!" a familiar voice complained.

Shikamaru checked the time. It seemed as though he missed meeting his team by fifteen minutes…and he still wasn't done with his game.

Ino was scowling at the pair of them as she approached while Chouji shoved a few chips into his mouth. "I bet even Chouji's more romantic than you!"

Predictably, the Akimichi choked on his chips and had to be smacked on the back by his sensei for his throat to clear. "W-What?"

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow and Mito appeared surprised. "Romantic? But…" Befuddlement marred Mito's face. Shikamaru wasn't much for touchy-feely things, and neither was Mito. He was sweet enough on her that she could never find a reason to complain.

"Oh, leave them alone, Ino," Asuma said around his cigarette, grinning widely at the pair. "What they get up to on their own is their business."

Chouji sniggered. "They don't get up to much, Sensei, Shikamaru's too lazy for much of anything."

Shikamaru groaned towards the sky as Matsuri was thrown into the opposite engawa, ripping the wooden planks up with the force behind the throw. Ino watched in interest as she barely brushed herself off before leaping back into the fray once more and Asuma had to nod approvingly towards Mito; she'd trained some quite capable medics.

Her lips twisted; she could only guide someone on the path to becoming better. She couldn't work magic.

* * *

Fuu examined the hitai-ate of Konoha with fascination. It'd been awhile since she had worn the one that identified her as a kunoichi of Taki, but this time around Fuu was happy to wear it, this time around she actually didn't hate the village to whom the symbol belonged to.

"What d'you think?" Mito asked smiling at her.

"I think it'll clash horribly with my hair," Fuu informed her, and the three medic-nins shared a laugh. Fuu didn't tie it around her neck like Hinata and Temari did, nor did she wrap it around her waist like Ino did; she wrapped it around her upper arm over her long white armlet.

Fuu bowed politely towards the Hokage who gave her a nod in return. "Thank you so much for this opportunity, sir, I won't let you down." It was the most polite Mito had seen her in a very long time, but Fuu really wanted this, a clean slate.

Hiruzen inclined his head. "Mito has informed me of your skill-set and your past…but you understand there will be suspicion surrounding your admittance into the Shinobi Corps."

"Of course," Fuu said simply. She had expected nothing less. Kage always put the village first before any one shinobi after all.

"Team One will be doing their first C-rank mission together," Mito said, drawing their eyes back to her as she looked over the mission scrolls in front of her.

"Wait—" Matsuri's eyes widened, her jaw unhinging just slightly. "Are _you_ going on a mission with us?"

Amusement flitted across her face. Fuu knew Mito was more into nonverbal cues than verbal; it was probably why she and the Nara got along so well. "Yes, as will Shikaku-sensei…incredibly surprising of him," she added as an afterthought, glancing off to the side with a confused frown, "C-ranks are a bit sub-par to the missions he usually gets, but he actually has to see us as a team in order to recommend us for the Chuunin Exams…" She sighed. "He'll complain how troublesome the whole thing is, just you wait."

The Hokage chuckled softly on one side of her while Iruka hid his snort on the other.

"I thought you were…um…" Matsuri glanced nervously towards the Hokage. She had thought that Mito wasn't allowed to leave, but she wasn't quite sure how to word that properly without insulting the Hokage.

Hiruzen smiled kindly as an old man only could. "I can make do without my assistant for awhile." Irritation flashed in Mito's eyes. Fuu smirked at the sight; clearly Mito didn't care much for her desk job.

"What's the mission?" Fuu asked, orange eyes falling to an assortment of scrolls that lay in front of Mito who gave off the aura of an underpaid and overworked assistant, if Fuu ever saw one.

"It's relatively simple, apart from its destination," Mito said smoothly, taking a small scroll neatly from the top of the pile. "The hospital is running low on herbs and medicinal supplies, some of which can only be found on Nanakusa Island, which is where we will be journeying to. As medic-nin, you two should be quite familiar by now with the assortment of healing plants the world offers." Mito's eyes were practically glowing with mirth, no doubt recalling one time that Matsuri and Fuu had confused Nightshade with ripe Juniper berries. "To reach the island will take at least two days by sea, so we will need to travel to a port in Hi no Kuni's eastern provinces, but the island will be much less difficult to navigate." Mito tapped her nose discretely.

Of course. Fuu had almost forgotten how attune her sense of smell was. She had once had her two apprentices walk around with blindfolds for a week straight and navigate based on touch and smell. Needless to say, Fuu's sense of smell improved quite quickly and the subtle differences between medicinal herbs and poisons became more obvious.

"Let's say we leave about noon…that'll give you about forty-five minutes to prepare," Mito mused, pushing her chair back so she could stand, stretching in a manner than was almost cat-like.

"Matsuri."

The brunette looked up quickly and Fuu had to give her credit for not jumping as she had always done whenever Mito spoke to her directly. "Yes, Shishou?"

"There will be no need for your Iron Sand," Mito said, shoving the chair gently against desk that she had been sitting at. "You aren't any closer to mastering it, and I'd rather you keep it here until it is an extension of your body."

To others it might have sounded like an insult, as the brown-haired man beside her shot her a stern glance that could be taken as reproachful, but Fuu knew better. Mito liked to say if it's no good for a mission, keep it at home. What was the point of lugging around something you couldn't control? And Matsuri's Medical Ninjutsu far surpassed Fuu's that she probably wouldn't even need it.

"Yes, Shishou," Matsuri chirped.

"I'll inform the hospital when to expect the next shipment," Mito said in that often annoyingly mild voice of hers, curling a few fingers towards the two girls with one hand and giving a two-fingered lazy salute to the Hokage with the other to which she only received a puff of smoke from a pipe as a response. But that seemed to be enough.

"Hopefully I'll be back before you die of lung cancer, Sandaime-sama," she called over her shoulder in a sudden burst of mutiny that Fuu had to stare. Because though Fuu was familiar with Mito's ability to go from cool and calm to sarcastic to downright cheerful, was not as used to her flipping through them so fast.

But she had to admit she was starting to like the Mito that had verbal quips with the leader of a village (as she doubted Mito would do anything of the sort towards the Kazekage).

* * *

"You're going on a C-rank?"

Yoshino was nothing short of stunned and Shikamaru startled. Shikaku couldn't really see why, but Mito hid her amusement well; he could only see it in how her eyes shimmered.

"I am the Jounin sensei of a squad of Medic-nin," Shikaku said dryly. "And I need to see how they function as a cohesive unit."

"Though it's doubtful that we'll be running into anything other than some Crimson Newts," Mito added.

Shikamaru noted that she'd opted to leave behind the haori he had gifted her over a year previously, but had kept the choker tight around her throat that held the Nara clan symbol. She looked much more serious, more kunoichi-like with her happuri tied to her forehead once more.

"Still." Shikaku tossed a look in her direction and she rolled her eyes. Master and apprentice had an uncanny ability to use body language to communicate their thoughts on a level that Shikamaru could only get the gist of what they were thinking.

"Don't worry, Yoshino-san," Mito added, grinning towards Shikaku's wife and Shikamaru's mother, "I'll make sure Sensei doesn't do anything too stupid…besides, it's a C-rank, it would be downright pathetic if the Hokage's Chief Strategist went down on a low level mission."

Shikamaru smothered his laugh and even Yoshino cracked a smile.

"But you know my husband," she told Mito, her eyes twinkling like dark stars, "he always needs someone looking after him."

Shikaku's shoulders slumped and Mito grinned in retaliation. It was almost reflexive, Shikamaru noticed, a far cry from the forced smile that she had used to put on in the presence of others.

"Come on, Sensei, we don't want to keep Matsuri and Fuu waiting," she continued, tugging on his father's deerskin coat with just a finger and a thumb, dragging him through the door with surprising force –or perhaps not so surprising– that he barely had time to pull his sandals on. "See ya, Shikamaru-kun!"

Shikamaru raised a hand in farewell, smirking at his father's muffled complaints quieted by the distance between them.

"And don't forget to give Naruto that book!" she added, raising her voice to a half-yell as she called back to Shikamaru.

"Yeah, yeah," the Nara heir grumbled, examining the book in his hand. Of course it was for Naruto. Who else would care so much about Fuuinjutsu? It was more than a little troublesome if you asked Shikamaru, but Naruto was a bit good at it, so who was he to complain?

He watched his father and his father's apprentice head towards the main entrance, Mito's bright and wild hair shining in the sunlight. Shikamaru wondered not for the first time if he shouldn't have dated someone quite so troublesome.

"How long has it been since you've been out of the village –not counting the S-rank from before," Mito added the second part as they exited the Nara lands, having almost forgotten the mission to Kiri (thinking about the Mizukage, Mei, whom she shared a Kekkei Genkai with, gave her a small headache –she wasn't really bad, per se…just very…cutesy, to use Shikaku's word).

"Who knows?" Shikaku asked, yawning widely. "I'm of more service in-village."

"Better for Shikamaru-kun too, to have a father present," Mito added slyly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

Shikaku narrowed a shrewd eye, but Mito missed it, a wistful expression lighting her eyes with a soft glow. His arm dropped over her shoulders and he leaned down to her level, causing her to look up at him. "Your mother would be proud of how far you've come."

"She'd know better if she were here," Mito dearly wanted to say, but she held her tongue, reaching a hand up to close around the red gem hanging around her neck. "Maybe," she said instead.

Shikaku chuckled, the weight lifting off her shoulders as he settled on tousling her already messy hair.

"Sensei!" Mito complained, pushing his hand away heatedly as pink stained her cheeks. "You know I don't like it when you do that!"

The chuckles belled out into laughter that was often a rarity for the Nara Clan Head (laughter was loud and often construed as troublesome; exhibit A, Naruto). His gaze fell down her back to where a large storage scroll was lodged under her pack. It was roughly the size of a Summoning Contract Scroll, like the one for toads that Jiraiya always had on his person.

"I'm guessing we'll be sealing all the herbs into that?" he asked in a shrewd tone.

"You would be correct," Mito agreed, straightening the straps of her pack. "There are a large number of medicinal herbs; I'd rather not rely on smaller storage scrolls…they're quite unreliable." Especially for such a large amount of herbs; Mito would rather not spoil them before they reached their destination.

"Not worried about your apprentices stumbling upon some poisons in the place of herbs?" Shikaku asked lightly.

Mito snorted. "If they did, Matsuri would just take it upon herself to experiment," she responded, unconcerned. And then she paused. "Did I mention that she wanted to be a Poison Expert?"

"No, I'm sure that slipped your mind," Shikaku said dryly. "Poison might be useful when you participate in the Chuunin Exams."

Mito merely gave a shrug in return. Poison was far more useful on weapons; one slice and it would be injected into the bloodstream, ensuring incapacitation at the least and death at the most if an antidote was not administered in time. The chances of Matsuri resorting to that were very low, given how she still sometimes flinched in the presence of weapons.

She would have to fight her way through the Chuunin Exams with just her fists and her chakra to aid her, as Mito had promised not to teach her anything involving physical weapons. But eventually Matsuri would have to get over her aversion.

Mito was just glad that Fuu did not have a similar issue.

Running at full speed got them to the port earlier than they were expected, thus putting them ahead of schedule as they departed. Fuu and Mito, being Suiton-types (among other things), didn't mind this at all, however Matsuri looked very much like she would rather remain on firm land, if the greenish tint that her face had attained was anything to go off of.

"Why couldn't we just collect herbs in Hi no Kuni?" she gasped, her head locked between her knees.

"Come on, Matsuri! Where's the fun in that?" Fuu asked, grinning widely as Mito fiddled with the wheel under Shikaku's close supervision. "Besides, this isn't the first time you've been out at sea."

This was true. Kirigakure could only be reached by boat as it was located on an island in the middle of the sea, such had been the case months previously when the three had travelled there with Choujuro.

"Those waves weren't nearly as bad," Matsuri moaned before standing up quickly and turning to be violently ill over the side.

Shikaku arched an eyebrow towards his apprentice before taking the wheel from her and turning it in the appropriate direction. "I can see your apprentices have steel stomachs."

"Matsuri hasn't killed anyone before," Mito said, frowning as Fuu patted the brunette's back in a soothing manner as she continued to cough. "She only has a steel stomach towards blood and injuries."

"That'll change quickly." It was the way the shinobi world was, and that was the sad truth. Each shinobi had blood of some kind on their hands.

Her lips pulled downwards slightly so that her frown was very nearly a pout, only falling just short of it. "Matsuri…" She paused, gathering her thoughts and looking out onto the deck as Fuu said something that made the girl in question laugh. "She reminds me of him sometimes."

"Him?" Shikaku was used to his apprentice speaking in a haze, often the only way to entice her into speech was to question her of things he already knew. Mito's eyes were soft and pained; only one person had ever garnered such a look from her.

"Gaara," she sighed the name into the wind, "he didn't want to hurt people…and neither does she. I've tried my best to preserve the pure side of her while keeping her…" She bit her lip, looking away.

"You taught her how to kill." It wasn't a question, and it never was. "There is nothing wrong with that, Mito, all shinobi kill."

"You never had to teach me how to kill," Mito replied sullenly as the small ship pulled away from the port to be buffeted by the slow waves. "I already knew, so did Fuu…describing how to kill someone and not think about it is a difficult…task…I don't think Matsuri grasped the concept quite well."

Shikaku regarded her silently as she watched her two apprentices below–now they were threatening each other with murder via poison, how utterly Mito of them. He had always been a bit relieved that he hadn't had to explain to Mito how to take another's life, he always felt that would be the worst thing to explain.

But she'd only blinked at him with those dulled purple half-blind irises. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Sensei," she'd said, "I already know how to kill."

"What d'you two think you're doing?" Mito suddenly demanded. "You'll poke someone's eye out!"

The pair quickly hid whatever they had in her hands.

"You'd think I was their mother," Mito complained before crooking a finger to him. "Come on, you should meet Fuu properly." There hadn't been much time to chat while they were leaping from tree branch to tree branch. One Kagebunshin later and Mito and Shikaku had joined Fuu and Matsuri.

"So, Fuu, you haven't really met Shikaku-sensei," Mito said, her words jumbled and awkward.

"Yo, I'm Fuu," the mint-haired Genin said brashly. "You look a lot like Mito's Shikamaru, he's your son, right?"

Shikaku was surprised at the bold tone that the former-Taki kunoichi used to speak and he glanced beside him to Mito who had a hand pressed to her eyes, unable to hide the heat that spilled across her skin. Mito's Shikamaru, eh? Shikaku wondered how his son would react to being referred to as Mito's…probably something along the lines of troublesome.

"That's not usually how I'm introduced," Shikaku said, his voice just a touch wry. Mito scoffed, ruffling her hair as she did so; Shikaku was coming to see it as a nervous gesture. "But yes."

"Mito-sensei says you're the smartest person in Hi no Kuni," Fuu added, bending backwards sharply at her waist until her palms made contact with the wood of the boat before flipping back up so that she was vertical once more. "That's why you're Hokage-sama's right hand."

"Possibly," Shikaku said, arching an eyebrow towards Mito once more. "Spreading rumors about me, are you?"

"They're not rumors if they're true, Sensei," Mito sang, her eyes glinting with humor as Matsuri giggled and Fuu sniggered.

"You are the most difficult apprentice I've ever taken on," Shikaku told her, fighting to yawn.

"I'm the only apprentice you ever took on," Mito retorted, affront splashed across her face.

"There's a reason for that."

Laughter left Fuu and Matsuri's lips before they could silence it.

"B-But, Sensei!" Mito tugged at his sleeve, her eyes larger and her lips forming into a pout. "I thought you liked having me as an apprentice!"

The expression on his face was a cross between annoyance and resignment. Fuu's smile softened. Clearly Shikaku was far too adjusted by his apprentice's antics to be bothered by them. Fuu wished that she could have been as close to her old sensei as Mito was to Shikaku, but the kind smile that her teacher and friend made towards her told her that she really didn't need to be.

Taki no Fuu was no more, and Fuu liked it better that way. Taki was behind her and Konoha was ahead of her.

* * *

It was past midnight and Mito was the only one awake, having volunteered for first watch (because one could still be attacked at sea, it wasn't unheard of). She still didn't sleep on full moons, even if there was practically a guarantee that Shukaku wouldn't wreck havoc while she slept.

"Need a second pair of eyes?"

Mito looked up to meet a pair of orange orbs and she gave a half-hearted shrug as a reply. It was a "If you insist," gesture that Fuu recognized quite easily. Her eyes were glazed…Fuu's eyes narrowed.

"Hello, Shukaku," she said, raising her voice just slightly. "How are you this fine evening?"

Mito's lips curved into a smile and her eyes cleared, Shukaku's echoing swears forcing her to barely restrain her laughter. "He's fine…can't sleep?"

"I just wanted to keep you company," Fuu said, her voice and stance just a trifle defensive. "What's wrong with that?"

Her sensei's eyes closed and she breathed out deeply, not speaking for so long that Fuu mistakenly thought that she had fallen into a meditative trance when her eyes suddenly opened once more. "The number of people that would agree to stay up with me all night are…few."

Fuu plopped down onto the space beside her, the deck moving under her feet from the sway of the waves. "We haven't had much time to, you know, talk," Fuu said, her words nearly stutters and ringing with awkwardness.

"I live a surprisingly busy life now," Mito said, annoyance tingeing her voice. "I blame the Hokage."

"Can you blame the Hokage?"

"Of course you can," Mito scoffed, "everyone is capable of making mistakes…me being behind a desk half the day is one of them."

Fuu smirked. "Irked?"

"You'll know when I'm irked," Mito retorted shortly, curling her fingers into her hair, twisting a few fiery strands around her finger. "Maybe once I hut Chuunin he won't feel the need to keep me around so much."

"Is that likely?"

The low exhale that Mito gave in response told her all that she needed to know.

"There is tension," Mito said after a short stint of silence, "between Konoha and Suna…it seems to me that the Hokage is trying to determine where my loyalties lie."

Fuu did not look to her, but she could imagine the pained sort of grimace that marred her sensei's lips. "What would you choose?" she found herself asking, not truly knowing if Mito would choose her family over her country.

"You know what they say," Mito muttered, her eyes downcast with an expression to match her voice, "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

A frown formed on Fuu's lips. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Mito did not roll her eyes, but it was a very near thing. "It means I'd pick Konoha…but I wouldn't be happy either way. Either I'm a traitor to my family by fighting for my country or I'm a traitor to my country for fighting for my family."

"It must suck to be from another village," Fuu said in a rather blunt manner that had once annoyed Mito greatly before she got so used to it that she hardly noticed it. "I mean, I am too, but I don't have family back in Taki."

"Lucky you," Mito sighed, leaning her head into her hand where it was propped on her crossed leg. "And my family is infinitely complicated…" Her eyes drifted into the distance, recalling a pair of blank eyes the color of jade and crimson hair that hardly hid the symbol for love carved into his forehead.

"You mean your brother," Fuu mentioned, drawing her back to the present, "I'm sure things'll work out eventually."

"A large dosage of sanity might be too much to ask for," Mito muttered, leaning back to look at the bright and beautiful moon, knowing that a great distance away Gaara was looking at the same moon. She remembered Ino's words and she clutched vainly to them as if they were her lifeline, but she doubted that Gaara was lucky to have her as a sister…look at what her disappearance from his side had brought.

A demon of slaughter.


	13. Treading Carefully

The sun was bright overhead, raining rays of light down on Konoha, but it wasn't nearly as early as it seemed and Ino scowled at her teammates from across the counter of Yamanaka Flowers.

"Tch! Mito already got her C-rank, why can't we get ours yet?" Ino complained, the green of her eyes seeming much darker in her irritation as she leaned her cheek into her fist.

Shikamaru gave wide yawn, leaning his head against the counter as if he was trying to find a comfortable place to fall asleep. "If you're so annoyed, take it up with Asuma."

"She did, didn't you hear her?" Chouji asked, sniffing tentatively at a few flowers nearby. "Asuma-sensei said to give it a few days."

"But that was a few days ago!" Ino bemoaned, tugging viciously on the lock of pale hair that fell over one of her eyes before quickly morphing into a face of perfection as the door opened and the bell jostled.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers," she said primly and very nearly mechanically before she caught sight of the person who had entered, "oh, it's you."

Chouji turned and Shikamaru looked up to see Haruno Sakura. Teams didn't often see much of each other until the six month mark so that teams could get used to working as a cohesive unit. The only times their paths usually crossed when they were wandering around the village.

Sakura scowled at her old friend. "Ino-pig."

"Still nursing that forehead, I see," Ino retorted, completely unaffected by the insult, if one could call it that.

Sakura's eyes darkened.

"Boys don't really like flowers, you know," Ino added slyly. "I doubt Sasuke-kun'll take well to it."

Sakura's expression soured further. "My mother's in the hospital for a few days…I thought some flowers might cheer her up."

Surprise adorned all three of their faces.

"Is she alright?" Ino asked, concern leaking into her voice as she mentally running through a number of injuries that could result in Sakura's merchant mother having to be submitted into the hospital.

"She just pulled a few muscles, that's all," Sakura said, waving a hand in an almost dismissive way, surprised by Ino's concern. She turned away to browse and Ino glared at Shikamaru.

"What?" Shikamaru's voice was barely defensive.

"You should give Mito a flower when she comes back," Ino said, stabbing him aggressively in the arm.

"A flower?" Shikamaru said blankly, looking at Chouji with incomprehension.

"Girls like flowers," Chouji responded with a small shrug. "Kaa-chan likes when Tou-chan brings her flowers."

"But Mito's different," Shikamaru complained, his hand pressing against his forehead didn't hide his annoyance. "She likes training and shogi and herbs."

"And tea," Chouji added.

"And looking pretty every once in awhile, and flowers," Ino added heatedly, making Shikamaru take a step back, startled by her vehemence. "Take her a few freesia blossoms."

Sakura glanced over to the trio behind a long line of carnations. Senju Mito hadn't really struck her to be much of a girly-girl. She only wore two necklaces and she certainly didn't wear any make-up.

"Freesia?" Shikamaru repeated dubiously as well as suspiciously.

"They're her favorite!" Ino insisted, jerking a thumb towards a row of a few particularly pretty flowers that Sakura hadn't considered before. They were many different colors, anywhere from red to white. "And they mean spirited."

"What does the meaning have to do with anything?"

Sakura sighed, shaking her head; _this_ was the only Genin in Konoha that had a girlfriend? Ino reached over to bop him angrily on the head.

" _Ow!_ What was that for?" Shikamaru demanded, rubbing at his head while Chouji stayed carefully out of range.

"Girls like things that stand for something else…like how Mito wears that haori you gave her…why do you think she wears it?"

"Because it's a nice color."

Sakura could feel a sweatdrop forming; _really?_

Ino's eyebrow twitched. "Why did you give it to her in the first place?"

Shikamaru shrugged, though his face looked distinctly uncomfortable. "She mentioned how people didn't really see her as Tsunade-sama's daughter, so I asked Kaa-san if she'd make one. I told her she didn't have to be Tsunade-sama's daughter, she could just by Oyaji's apprentice."

"That's…kind of sweet," Chouji admitted, his eyebrows raised slightly as Sakura picked out two daisies. "Bet Mito turned as red her hair!"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head as Sakura came up to pay for her flowers, recalling when he had given her the haori, and Chouji wasn't wrong; she had blushed very hard.

"Enjoy!" Ino said with a forced smile, earning a frown in return. Sakura took her change and left as Ino restarted her argument about Shikamaru needing to be more caring towards his girlfriend, or she was going to "dump his lazy ass."

"If Mito found my laziness irritating she really wouldn't have stayed on as Oyaji's apprentice," Shikamaru said dryly. "Besides—"

"She has a very specific type, doesn't she, Shikamaru?" Chouji's eyebrows waggled suggestively towards his best friend as he elbowed him slightly in the side.

"What're you going on about?" Shikamaru retorted, though the bright pink of his cheeks made it difficult to take him seriously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, no reason," his teammates said airily with identical twinkles in their eyes, and not for the first time Shikamaru wished that he hadn't grown up with them, because them knowing him so well was seriously annoying.

"Ino-sama, I can take over."

Ino nodded towards one of her clan members that Shikamaru didn't really know the name of (then again, he didn't really talk to anyone else from the Yamanaka Clan, other Ino and Inoichi-oji), removing the apron that she had thrown over her kunoichi uniform and stepping out from behind the counter. "See ya, Taichi-san."

And then she grabbed each boy by the wrist and pulled them through the door and out into the open air. "Come on! Let's go find Asuma-sensei! Maybe we'll get to do that C-rank mission today."

"Why bother?" Shikamaru groaned.

"It might be fun, Shikamaru," Chouji responded with a grin.

"With Ino it's never fun," Shikamaru bemoaned before he ducked his head forward at the force of her punch. _"OW!"_

* * *

The moment that the small ship slid into the sandy coast of the island was punctuated by a sudden and euphoric yell.

"Land! Sweet land!"

Matsuri collapsed into the green earth, nuzzling her face into the grass with so much relief that her three companions had to stare.

"Um…Mito-sensei," Fuu stage-whispered to the red-head who could only shake her head in bemusement, "are you sure you picked her up from Suna? She seems to like grass a little too much to be from Suna."

Matsuri glared over at her fellow Medic-nin. "Hey!" Mito arched an eyebrow and Shikaku snorted.

"I," Mito began, sounding just slightly put-upon, "am from Suna."

"Psh, that's different," Fuu scoffed, "your chakra nature is Suiton—"

"It's also Katon," Mito added, dusting off her pants as she did so, "or else I'd never be able to use my **Futton**."

"And how is that going?" Shikaku asked, barely holding back his mirth as he secured the ship so that it wouldn't flow out to sea and leave them stranded.

Mito's lips drew downwards into a sour frown. "Wouldn't you like to know," she sniffed.

"Well, Shishou's doing much better with her **Futton** than I am with the **Jiton** ," Matsuri complained as she moved forward to meet them. "Kazekage-sama and Gaara-sama are the only ones with similar styles and I can't ask them for help…" The Kazekage was far too busy and Gaara…that was just a death sentence.

"That's why Nii-san gave you those scrolls," Mito reminded her with a comforting smile as she pulled out an old map of the island. "Now, shall we get down to business?"

Three heads poured over the map while the fourth stayed back; leave the herbs to the Medic-nin, as he always said.

"We'll start a few paces from here," Mito said, tapping at a spot on the map, "this is where the Mandra Grass should be located, then we'll go over a set of small hills to reach where the Giant Mato are located, before heading down to the stream where Crimson Newts are…and then there's Hell Valley."

"Sounds inviting," Fuu said dryly. "What's there?"

"A very special mud that helps with bruises, but the area in which it is located is rumored to be quite toxic." Mito frowned at the map before throwing a look towards her sensei that Fuu and Matsuri couldn't read.

"Planning to tackle that on your own?" Shikaku mused, stroking his goatee thoughtfully.

Fuu and Matsuri were quick to protest.

"Shishou, my speed—!"

"I can use my—!"

She interrupted them swiftly with a rustic tone that Shikaku had only heard her use a few times. It was a tone that quickly silenced others and brooked no further argument. Shikaku eyed her for a moment, wondering if it was something she had picked up from her father.

"Your speed still needs work, Matsuri," Mito disagreed, "though your skills range from high-Genin to low-Chuunin…Fuu…" Her eyes became shrewd and layered with warning.  
"We agreed to test the full extent of Choumei's residual chakra in a secure setting…" Shikaku arched an eyebrow. This conversation was growing more curious by the minute. Inoichi had told Shikaku about all that Fuu had revealed during interrogation, about how she was a former Jinchuuriki…Choumei must have been the demon that resided inside of her…it sounded like a name. Mito gave a low sigh. "But, of course, you went against my words, didn't you?"

The only answer the mint-haired offered her was a sheepish smile. "Uh…oops?"

Several emotions flashed across Mito's face.

" **Told you,"** Shukaku grunted in her mind. **"Choumei never had restraint."**

" _Neither did you,"_ Mito retorted. _"But at least Choumei wasn't filled with murderous intent."_

Shukaku growled something intelligible in the back of her mind, seeming to slink back into the darkness.

"Fuu," Mito said, pulling herself back into the physical plane to toss a resigned look to her fourth apprentice, "there's a reason for—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Fuu said sullenly, averting her eyes and digging her pale sandal into the ground.

Mito gritted her teeth, inhaling through her nose and she cast Shikaku a look that clearly begged for assistance.

 _Hey, your apprentice, your problem_ , was the expression he gave her in return.

Her eyes narrowed. _Sadist._

Matsuri glanced nervously between her master and her fellow apprentice, only to jump at the sharpness of Mito's voice. "Matsuri!"

"Yes, Shishou?" Matsuri stuttered out.

"Go with Shikaku-sensei and begin collecting Mandra Grass," Mito ordered, "Fuu and I will be along shortly."

"Um…alright," Matsuri said, her eyes flickering between her master and her apprentice, practically feeling the slight tension that hung in the air. She had never seen Mito truly argue with someone for the sake of arguing; both were rather easy going. But she took the map and Mito's impassive sensei followed after her without a noticeable change in expression.

Mito pinched the bridge of her nose as they disappeared into a small valley. "Fuu," she sighed her name, "there's a reason I don't want you attempting those jutsu…we have no idea how much of Choumei's chakra wasn't siphoned in the extraction."

Fuu bit the inside of her mouth. "It's not because you think I'm weak?" she asked skeptically.

"Everyone has some kind of weakness," Mito said in exasperation. "Even Jinchuuriki." She raked a hand through her hair, making it even wilder than before. "You may never be as strong as you once were and you may not be able to use all the techniques that you could before…but we just don't know." A fist clenched at her side. "For all we know, you were the first attempt at a Bijuu extraction, so of course we expected some of Choumei's chakra to stay with you…I just don't want you trying anything… _reckless_ without me around in case I need to revitalize you, alright?"

Fuu considered her for a moment. Mito might have been a little over a year younger than her, but she really looked up to her. The only person that could understand the pain a Jinchuuriki endures is another Jinchuuriki. Fuu wasn't sure who had had it worse of the two of them.

"Fine," she conceded, her stiff posture relaxing. "But I'm not giving up."

Mito's lips curled upwards into a fond smile that her eyes shimmer like amethyst. "Of course not."

* * *

Mandra Grass, Shikaku soon learned, was not technically grass. It was a small plant that grew from the grass with palmate-esque leaves attached to a thin stalk from which a small flower sprouted.

"Shikaku-sensei! That's just ordinary flowers!"

"Mm? Is it?" Shikaku scrutinized the flowers in his hands and the ones in the three girls' hands; they looked the same to him.

Matsuri actually rolled her eyes, an act that made Mito grin. The fact that Matsuri was loosening up a bit more was good; Medic-nin had to be fluid not stiff. "The texture's completely different, Shikaku-sensei," Matsuri admonished. "The leaves are more brittle–yours are too soft–and flowers are supposed to light blue…yours are a few shades off."

Shikaku quirked an eyebrow, pulling the long-stemmed flower closer to his eyes. "Really?"

Fuu snorted and Mito coughed loudly, pulling the thick scroll off her back unrolling it to display an empty circle in the seal. Mito pressed a hand into it and a large jar popped out of it with a bit of smoke. Mito grabbed it before it could drop to the ground, screwing the top and handing over some twine to her apprentices.

"Hey, Sensei? Feeling inadequate yet?" Mito asked with a slight grin.

Shikaku shook his head in exasperation. "I'm no Medic-nin, I'll leave that to you girls; you clearly know what you're doing."

"Clearly," Fuu said dryly. "For all you know we could be collecting poison."

"I am!" Matsuri interjected with a bright grin holding up a smaller jar already half-filled with some curious looking berries and some crisp leaves. "Ta-da!"

"Well, of course _you_ collected poison," Fuu gave a long-suffering sigh as Mito inhaled the scent of the small jar before handing it back to Matsuri approvingly. "You're Poison Mistress-san!"

"I am choosing not to take that as an insult," Matsuri sniffed, binding her thin stalks together carefully and placing them into the jar Mito offered.

"Good for you."

Shikaku snorted, flopping back onto his back to gaze up at the clouds that moved lazily over the horizon. And after only a matter of moments, he was out like a light. Mito sighed as Matsuri eyed the man curiously and Fuu's eye twitched.

"Just leave him," Mito advised, sealing the remainder of the Mandra Grass into the scroll before lodging it onto her back once more, "besides, he isn't really helpful with medic-related duties."

Fuu's eye twitched once more. "Then why did he volunteer to come along in the first place?"

"Didn't I explain this already?" Mito grumbled to herself as Matsuri made a bee-line over a hill towards where the Giant Mato was to be located, Fuu and Mito following soon after. "The Chuunin Exams are coming up in a few months and in order for Matsuri to participate with us, she needs the order of an impartial sensei."

"Does Shikaku-sensei really count as impartial, though?" Fuu questioned. "He _is_ the Jounin leader of our squad."

"When he wants to be," Mito said, shrugging her shoulders, unconcerned. "He and his son share a particular trait that many have to train to have."

Fuu's lips curled and she waggled her eyebrows suggestively towards the red-head, bumping her shoulders against hers as they walked.

A faint pink bloomed on Mito's cheeks. "Shut up," she muttered before raising a hand to her mouth to cough lightly into, "as I was saying…they both have clarity. They can assess situations without letting their hearts get in the way, that's why Shikaku-sensei counts as impartial."

Orange eyes blinked at her a few times. "Think we'll make Chuunin?" she asked instead as they descended the opposite side of the hill they'd just hiked up only to ascend another.

Mito didn't say anything for a moment. She knew the chances of her not ending up as a Chuunin within the next three months would be very low, and Matsuri wasn't even technically a Genin…but Fuu…Fuu had a little ways to go before she could be considered a Chuunin.

"I believe you will make Chuunin sometime within the next year," Mito said finally, "perhaps this exam, or maybe the next one…I'm not quite sure."

Fuu nodded, accepting her answer surprisingly well. Mito had to congratulate herself on that–not being humble at all–because when Mito had first started training Fuu, the girl was a ticking time bomb with a short fuse, everything seemed to set her off. She was still bold and crude and snarky, sure, but at least there wasn't really the likelihood that she'd blow up over the smallest things.

Kiri had been good for her.

"I found the Giant Mato!" Matsuri called, jumping up and down so that they could see her, which wasn't really a problem, seeing as she was currently on top of another hill while Mito and Fuu were at its base. "Hurry up!" And then she disappeared.

Fuu's eyes narrowed. "That girl is growing a pair of balls."

Mito choked and stared. "What?"

The ex-Taki kunoichi shrugged. "She was really quiet when we first met. It's a compliment," she added with a smirk at the expression that adorned Mito's face.

"Really?" Mito asked, vaguely startled.

"Trust me on this," Fuu assured her, "you've got balls of steel, so it's even better."

"Balls…of steel?" Mito said weakly, repeating her words incomprehensibly and staring at her as though she was a new specimen of medicinal properties that she had yet to identify the complete number of uses for.

Fuu could only shake her head and laugh. "Man, you Konoha shinobi have to get out more."

* * *

It had been three days since Team One with Shikaku-oji in tow had left on their C-rank, and two days since Team Ten had gone off on their first C-rank (Ino had lorded the fact over him for so long that Naruto had contemplated testing out one of his seals on her before scrapping that idea; with his luck, it would probably explode on her), leaving Naruto's team to be the only one aside from Team Eight to not be going on a C-rank, and that was only because Hinata's team would be going on patrol duty the next day.

So Naruto had resolved to work harder on his Fuuinjutsu, but it wasn't going hardly anywhere, even with Mito's new book and Yoshino-oba to help him out.

"Don't look so down," Yoshino admonished her godson from where they sat on opposite sides of a large and blank scroll with several books on Fuuinjutsu and a brush and ink littering the space around Naruto. "Your parents didn't learn Fuuinjutsu in a day, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Naruto grumbled, painting several symbols against the white of the scroll. "I just expected it to be easier-ttebayo."

Yoshino snorted in a manner that was unbecoming of her station. "Kiddo, if Fuuinjutsu was easy, we'd all know it by now."

A grin graced Naruto's lips. "I guess."

"Minato always had a flair for it," Yoshino lamented with a sigh, "he was always researching…though," she grinned in a sly manner, "that might have had something to do with the fact that he had to ask Kushina a lot of questions about it…and he really went out of his way to convince your mother to speak more than a few words to him."

Naruto's brush paused and he looked up in surprise. "Kaa-chan didn't like Tou-chan?"

Yoshino couldn't stop the laughter that burst from her lips. "Of course not!" she disagreed. "At least, not to start with. I told you your dear old mum thought he was a complete flake, so she generally avoided him…she was fourteen before she decided to give him a chance, but they didn't start dating until they were sixteen." She smirked. "Your father could never come up with the proper way to ask her out."

"How'd she take it?" Naruto asked. Yoshino never talked much about his parents, though he suspected that there might have been a law in place forbidding it, it was only when he asked that she divulged any information concerning Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina.

"Well, she was pretty annoyed that it took him so long, and I quote 'to grow a pair and ask her out instead out hiding behind those sorry excuses of Fuuinjutsu inquiries,'" Yoshino tried to make her voice sound slightly more like Kushina's, whose had always had a softer lilt than her own. "As I recall, Minato just stared at her agape for a full minute before he could actually speak."

Naruto grinned widely. "Poor Tou-chan!"

"Several people thought he was crazy," Yoshino hummed, "after all, dating the Akai Chishio no Habanero was just asking for trouble."

Naruto canted his head slightly to the side in confusion. "The…Akai Chishio no Habanero?" he repeated the words in confusion. "Why did they call her that?"

"Probably because she had red hair and a fiery temper that sent anyone who crossed her to the hospital," Yoshino said carelessly and Naruto sweatdropped. He tried to imagine Mito getting that mad, but most she'd ever been with him was annoyed. "She was loud and obnoxious…a lot like you, kiddo." She grinned at him and his cheeks turned bright pink. "But your looks are all your dad's…but I guess you can't always win."

"Hey!" Naruto complained.

"If you looked more like your mom but with your dad's temperament there wouldn't be a lot of difference between you and Mito," Yoshino added, talking over him. "Her eyes were a slightly darker purple…the pair of you could have passed for siblings."

"Really?" Naruto screwed up his face slightly. "But I though Mito-chan gets her looks from her mom and grandmother?"

"Oh, she does," Yoshino agreed as Naruto put his brush back to the scroll once more. "But red hair and purple eyes weren't traits that were kept just in the Uzumaki Clan, even if they were quite rare…no, that's wrong." She pulled his arm back before he could ruin the scroll further.

"What? What'd I do wrong?" Naruto asked, staring incomprehensibly at the symbols in front of him.

"You didn't space them out right," Yoshino explained patiently, far more patiently that if Shikaku had screwed it up (he would've probably gotten a whack upside the head for his failings, the fool). "They're too close together."

"Darn…" Naruto's shoulders slumped and Yoshino paused to look up at him for a moment.

"Why don't we call it a day?" she asked, causing his head to jerk up as he stared at her.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto demanded as she rolled up the scroll and secured the brush and ink.

"Because your mind is clearly elsewhere," Yoshino said dryly, a tone that quickly became shrewd. "Is it about all the other teams going on C-ranks before you?"

"No," Naruto quickly lied, averting his eyes, his lip jutting out just slightly.

"Try a more convincing lie," Yoshino advised, "I'm a Nara."

Naruto glared at her. "It's just…Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji are all on a team together and Mito's got her two apprentices to keep her busy…"

"You're feeling left out," Yoshino guessed with a nod before tilting her head slightly, "have you talked with Hyuuga Hinata lately? You're friends aren't you?"

Naruto had become friends with Hinata through Mito, as the red-head had been training with her at the time in an effort to help her with her Juuken. She was the first person who wasn't Mito that had greeted him with a genuine smile, though he still couldn't figure out why she blushed so much when he was around.

"No…and she's leaving tomorrow for border patrol," Naruto said sullenly.

"Then go buy her some ramen and have a nice chat," Yoshino ordered, making a shooing gesture to him. "Go on, then!"

He grinned brightly at her. "You're the best, Oba-chan!" And then he was racing away in the direction of the training ground that Team Eight trained at.

Yoshino smirked. He really had no idea, did he? That poor Hyuuga girl had it _bad_.


	14. To Nami no Kuni

Mito scowled across the cave where poisonous fumes expelled at seemingly random intervals, but Mito was beginning to see a pattern.

"Damn," a low whistle was uttered behind her. "I can see why you wanted to come in here alone."

Mito arched an eyebrow as Shikaku came up beside her, scrutinizing the fumes before them. "So you finally woke up, did you?"

"Ha-ha," Shikaku retorted dryly as he focused on the toxic trap before them. "Have you seen the pattern yet?" The way he said it was like he was testing her. Sometimes Mito really hated how fast his mind worked; she was much slower by comparison.

"Almost," Mito said, aggravation obvious in her voice. "Give me five seconds, Sensei…you're too smart." Many believed that there was no pattern to at what time the gas was released, but that was only because they weren't looking close enough.

Shikaku didn't bother to muffle his snort. Supposedly, he was the smartest person in Hi no Kuni, but Shikaku tended not to rub it in too much; his clan was well known for their intelligence in strategy. Mito wasn't quite as strategic as his son, but she wasn't that far off. Violet eyes flitted over the cave, jumping to each spot from which toxic gas erupted in geysers.

"One—" She pointed to the left at the moment it burst. "Two—" To the right. "Three—" At the center. "Four—" Above. "Five and Six—" Two natural spouts located on the west wall. "Seven—" Propelled forward from the part where the south and east walls met. "Eight and nine—" Two slanted spouts that spewed diagonal spouts on opposite sides of the erosion-carved ceiling of the cave. "And again—"

Accurate down to the last geyser. Shikaku nodded approvingly and Mito's cheeks pinked at his approval before tensing her body, preparing to leap forward, waiting until the toxic fumes were two spouts ahead before daring to dance through the poisonous air, the ground hot under her feet. The heavy scroll on her back threw off her balance a bit as she jumped to the side, out of the way of a sudden burst that grazed her exposed her arm, the acid searing into her skin. It more than stung, but Mito didn't even blink, far too used to the pain she had to put her body through in order to not be affected by the acid she had once been well known for lacing her skin with.

It was the only injury she managed to receive as she landed on light feet next to the pools of bubbling mud, removing her scroll swiftly and making a few quick hand signs that caused two large buckets to burst out from within the scroll and Mito dipped one carefully into the brown mess, being mindful of not dropping it completely into the muck. She made short work of the second bucket before sealing them just as swiftly and tilting the scroll to roll it back up before securing it on her back once more.

She paused for a brief time to calculate where the spouts were releasing their acid from, having to reverse the directions as she was going back the opposite way, but this time she skated by the acidic fumes with more care than she had previously, landing beside Shikaku with hardly a change in expression.

She grinned at him. "This is why I wanted to do it alone."

Her sensei's eyes flickered the burn that marred her pale flesh, but Mito waved him off with a careless fling of her good arm. "Trust me," she laughed, "it's not as bad as it looks."

"If you say so," Shikaku returned agreeably, though the look in his eye said he didn't much believe her.

Mito forced her eyes not to roll as she strode past him and out into the sunlight once more, turning abruptly left in the direction of a small stream, which she kneeled next to, soaking her arm in the water as she pressed a glowing green hand to the mild wound.

"See! This is why you should have taken us along!" a brash voice snapped as its owner moved towards her, glaring in a way that only girl who had once been a Jinchuuriki could glare. Her orange eyes scowled at Mito as Matsuri followed behind, her face colored with concern.

"Are you alright, Shishou?" Matsuri asked in concern as Shikaku moved forward at a much more leisure pace than his three charges.

"No, she's an idiot, that's what!" Fuu complained, throwing her arms up in the air.

"I'm your superior," Mito sniffed, straightening her back to face her oldest apprentice with a piercing gaze that reminded Matsuri a little of Gaara-sama except for the fact that it wasn't as blank as his eyes usually were. Matsuri gave an involuntary shiver at the memory of the only time she had ever met Suna's Jinchuuriki's eyes; she wouldn't have had the guts to do so if she hadn't been apprenticed to Mito, that much she knew.

"Just you wait, I'll surpass you!"

"Perhaps…in a fair few years." Mito's lips curled upwards into a smile that could be mistaken as a smirk.

Fuu's eye twitched. "Why, you—"

Shikaku couldn't hide his amusement any longer, but it didn't seem to matter much as all three girls were quite distracted –Fuu jabbing her finger angrily in Mito's direction throwing a few jibes her way as Matsuri locked her arms around her waist in an effort to restrain her while Mito did a rather spot on impression of his son, including a rather wide yawn at the former-Taki kunoichi's antics.

"Oi! Are you even listening to me?" Fuu demanded.

"Not particularly," Mito said dryly, stretching her arms above her head before moving past her and towards the shoreline. "Come on, we should get moving; that's two more days at sea."

Matsuri groaned and Fuu gave her a look that said "I can't believe you're subjecting me to two more days at sea with Can't-Keep-It-Down-san."

* * *

And as it happened, Team One with their lazy Jounin teacher in tow returning to Konoha two days later without a hitch, which meant Mito was back to running around doing errands for the Hokage, Shikaku was back to doing whatever the hell a Jounin Commander could do, and Fuu and Matsuri were given opposing shifts at the hospital (Mito thought it best not to have them working at the same time, as that would to all sorts of trouble that she didn't want to deal with at this time).

"This is a waste of my abilities," was now turning into Mito's mantra. The only thing she seemed to be learning at this time was an extraordinary amount of patience.

"It'll get better," Yuugao told her as the red-head tapped her clipboard a little angrily as Hayate walked circles around the edge of the exercise room in the hospital that was often used for rehabilitation. He had been instructed to walk until he felt a tightness in his chest, and then abruptly cease.

"Doubtful," Mito grumbled, scanning Hayate's body for any sign of fatigue, but it was only marked by a very slight sheen of sweat that glistened on his skin; Mito had forgotten how long he'd been walking. "At least the Chuunin Exams are coming up in about three months, so that'll be at least a little exciting."

Yuugao smirked, unable to resist. The rumor was that the proctors for the first and second parts of the exams were Morino Ibiki and Mitarashi Anko…those poor Genin. On the other hand, Mito would hardly even blink at the scare tactics Ibiki would use. "I'm sure it will be."

Mito glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, suspicion lining her face, but she didn't comment on the ANBU captain's amusement, instead moving forward as Hayate came to a sudden stop. Mito whipped a short stool away from the side wall for him to sit down on before peeling his shirt back and pressing her hands to his back, the glowing green chakra probing his body for abnormalities. After a moment she removed her hands, pulling his shirt back down as Yuugao came to join them.

"You're progressing nicely," Mito mused, making a few marks on the paper attached to her clipboard. "I don't doubt that you'll be cleared for duty in about two and a half months."

Yuugao's smile was so bright that it lit up her whole face and Hayate's grin nearly matched hers.

"Take it easy," Mito added, standing up and pressing a hand lightly to his shoulder, "and you might be done with the antidote sooner." And then she turned on her heel, making her way out of the room and out of the hospital all together, heading instead towards the academy to collect some student enrollment lists. She heard the laughter and the less heard jeers of the children as they played before she actually saw them. The younger ones were moving quickly across the playground while a group of sullen Genin-aged kids stood off to the side –she knew these to be the ones that failed their Genin Exam and were sent back to the academy for a year of review before their second attempt. Better to be stuck behind a desk than inadvertently causing the death of their teammates or sensei.

Mito entered and a few lagging students swerved to avoid hitting her in their haste and Mito could hear a boy whispering to his friend. "It's that girl! My mom told me to stay away from her—"

Mito's face showed no inclination that she had heard the words. A year had hardly done anything to ease the fears of the civilians, but Mito hardly ever socialized with them, spending most of her time with shinobi and kunoichi who had far better personalities, in her opinion.

"Iruka-san?" Mito called, ducking her head into the sensei lounge, glancing around for the scarred Chuunin in question that Naruto was so fond of. "Are you here?"

He looked up and graced her with a smile as she approached his desk. "Mito-sama, I wasn't expecting you." He had returned to teaching a few summer classes for the students that failed part of their course. Today was his last day.

"Hokage-sama sent me for the next year's student roster," Mito said, canting her head slightly. "You must have forgotten to give it to Sandaime the last time you were in."

"Ah!" Iruka chuckled sheepishly, raising a hand to ruffle his ponytail slightly before reaching into one of his desk's drawers, searching for the document in question. "Here you are, sorry you had to come down for it," he apologized, the sheepish expression returned, but Mito waved him off.

"It's fine, I mean, it's not as though Hokage-sama isn't having me running around and doing all his errands for him anyways."

Frustration shone in her eyes. She'd only been off duty for a few days (once again) but Iruka could see that she much preferred to be out in the field.

"Well, his Jounin Commander is rather…" Iruka thought how best to describe Nara Shikaku in a way that wouldn't result in a demotion.

"Lazy? Sluggish? Sloth-like?" Mito offered the synonyms in an almost careless manner, her shoulders sagging a little. "I'm doing more work than Sensei and I'm at the lowest rank…but I really shouldn't have expected much…this _is_ Sensei, after all."

Iruka smiled slightly, leaning back in his chair. "Do you mind if I ask you something? It's kind of personal."

Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "By all means."

"I've taught Shikamaru a very long time…he's always shown a disdain towards girls," Iruka said, earning a soft chuckle from the Senju.

"Shikamaru-kun just likes someone to keep things interesting," Mito said, her eyes bright, "someone who can at least attempt to keep up with him…on an intellectual level. I can say, at least, I'm never boring, it's why he sometimes calls me 'Firecracker'."

Iruka arched his eyebrow.

"The thing about Shikamaru-kun is that everything he does, big or small," her eyes softened briefly, "it means something…"

And then she turned on her heel, her haori fluttering in the wind, sending ripples over the Nara symbol and Iruka was left contemplating the idea of Shikamaru ever being sweet on anyone.

* * *

When Matsuri joined Mito at the mission assignment desk, she had to wince. Team Seven had just returned from a D-rank that must have been one that involved catching the cat that was currently struggling in the arms of the exuberant woman that must have been its owner.

Was it a wonder that it had left in the first place?

Mito winked to her as the brunette took up residence against the wall as the Hokage waved the team forward, expelling a bit of smoke from his mouth as he did so. Mito didn't seem too concerned by it stinging her eyes, but she must have built up a tolerance; Matsuri remembered when she would sometimes pop a cigarette during her training, and she was glad her Shishou had kicked the habit.

"Now, then," Hiruzen began, consulting a few small scrolls before him, "Kakashi's Team Seven's next mission is…babysitting Yojyu-sama's boy, grocery shopping at a neighboring town, helping dig up potatoes at—"

Matsuri tried not to sigh. These D-ranks hardly counted as missions; she was sure that if she was in Suna the tasks wouldn't be quite so easy.

"No!" Naruto shook his head so violently that Matsuri was almost sure that it would come off. "Come on, Jiji! We've done our eight D-ranks! You owe us a C-rank!"

Iruka looked aghast at the idea of Naruto going on a C-rank, but the look Mito threw his way was something else; it was daring. _If you stop Naruto from leaving Konoha it will only kill him sooner,_ that was what her eyes said. Without experience, what was he really?

"He is correct," Mito agreed, twirling a pen around her finger as Sasuke eyed her shrewdly and Sakura looked suddenly interested. "They have completed the minimum…it would be unjust to refuse them when the other rookie Genin have already gone on theirs."

An eager light brightened Naruto's wide grin and the Sandaime tossed her a sideways look to which Mito simply held out a simply scroll with the labeling of 'C'. He took a brief moment to read it before setting it down. His eyes roved over Team Seven, taking in Sakura's apprehension, Sasuke's desire to prove himself, and Naruto's excitement, but Mito was right, it would be unjust to refuse them.

"Very well," he said. "You will be granted a C-rank."

Naruto exploded into cheers that caused Matsuri to throw her arms over her ears to protect them from the sudden noise.

"It's to escort a certain someone—"

"Really?" Naruto interrupted in excitement. "Who? A Feudal Lord? A Princess?"

"Then it would be have to be re-ranked," Mito said dryly. "That would require a B-rank at the least."

"Send him in," the Hokage told the Chuunin at the door and the man bowed politely before turning to call the man inside.

The man's name was Tazuna of Nami no Kuni; Mito had heard stories about the situation there, so it explained the bottle of sake in his hand, but it didn't excuse it. He had to have known that he would be standing before the Hokage today and he should have had the decency to sober up a bit. His dark eyes were slightly dazed behind his spectacles no doubt from the alcohol and his grey beard was frizzy and wild.

"What?" he demanded in a gruff voice. "They're just kids! I'd rather take the red-head!"

Naruto scowled and Mito's eyes narrowed. That sounded remarkably like an insult to her as Tazuna tilted his bottle to his lips taking a few swigs. "Are you sure they're shinobi?"

"Quite certain," Iruka assured him, looking slightly exasperated at the man's appearance as well as he took another drink before rounding on the Genin with Matsuri scrutinizing him from the side, her nose wrinkling at the scent of sake.

"I am the bridge building expert Tazuna," he said, "Once I have returned to my country, I will have all of you protect my life with yours while I complete the bridge."

Kakashi bowed respectfully. "I am Hatake Kakashi, I will be the Jounin in charge on this mission and there are my students, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura."

Tazuna nodded as if he didn't really care.

"Matsuri will be joining you as well," Mito added, waving her apprentice forward, and twenty minutes later Team Seven plus their client and Mito and Matsuri stood at the main gates. Matsuri's armguards had been replaced with a much more protective metal plating and her small gourd strapped to her back –as Mito had deemed her control over the iron sand to be much better than before, good enough for her to take it with her– and a small tanuki in her hands.

"Bunseki-san will just keep an eye on things," Mito said, her words tinged with amusement as Bunseki clamored up so that he was resting comfortably on her shoulders. "It wouldn't do if I couldn't deliver you to the Kazekage in a few months with a few limbs less than you started, he'd have my head."

Matsuri's eyes widened, visibly startled. "Really?"

Mito shrugged. "Possibly…keep an eye on Naruto, would you?"

"Hey!" the blonde complained before Sakura elbowed him harshly in the stomach.

"I'll do my best, Shishou," Matsuri promised, bowing politely and reverently.

Mito nodded before stabbing a finger towards Kakashi who immediately tried to make himself smaller; he had heard tales of Mito's strength. "I'm holding you responsible for anything that happens to her, Kakashi-san."

He gave a two fingered salute as Sasuke's eyes flickered between the red-head and her apprentice; if she needed to threaten Kakashi for her safety, then the brunette must not be as strong. Sakura frowned thoughtfully and Naruto gave his cousin a boisterous wave as they headed out and into the unknown.

* * *

Hyuuga Hizashi was floating in nothingness. And he was a muddle of confusion. Where was he? The image of his young son, his face lined with fear and worry kept cropping up in his mind, as did an assortment of others. He saw Yoshino with her arms crossed as she stared at Shikaku at his fumbling attempt to ask her out, and Minato's face, blushing bright red when his teammates discovered of his crush on Kushina, and Jiraiya-sensei's lecherous grin…

"He's been in a coma for years?" a voice he did not recognize echoed around him. "Will he wake up?"

"That is uncertain," a second voice spoke at a lower pitch. "Perhaps he does not wish to wake up…or maybe this is simply an aftereffect of whatever they used to keep him under…"

"Shouldn't you tell his son?"

Hizashi grasped at that train of thought. _Neji!_ _He had to see Neji!_

A few beeps quelled the words of the two girls speaking.

"Is he waking?" the first voice asked.

"No, merely reacting to 'his son' no doubt…Hizashi-san, you will see Neji-san as soon as you awaken, I promise, do not force your body."

And so Hizashi allowed himself to drift off once more, a single name in his mind. _Neji…_

* * *

Matsuri didn't like the Uchiha, especially not with the superior looks he was throwing her way.

"What?" she demanded finally, her tone a little rude, but only slightly. Months ago Matsuri wouldn't have dared to speak in such a manner, but being apprenticed to Senju Mito had given her confidence, just as it had with Hinata.

Sakura glared at her in defense of the boy.

"I'm just wondering why Senju took you on if you're not as strong."

Matsuri scoffed. "Oh, please, no one's as strong as Shishou; she could knock you out in five seconds." Probably less than that, actually.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and Sakura decided to break the tension as best as she could; by speaking.

"Ne, Tazuna-san?"

"What?" the client responded gruffly as Naruto threw an expression towards Matsuri that forced her to stifle her giggles. Naruto spent a lot of time at Mito's compound even if she wasn't there –being the rather busy over-worked assistant to the Hokage– and Matsuri had seen firsthand his Tori style…it might even be on par with Tanuki style, or at least her Tanuki style (Mito's skill in the Taijutsu far surpassed hers). He reminded her a little of Fuu…only not quite as clever, but he had to be as strong as Mito, that much Matsuri could sense.

"You're from Nami no Kuni, right?" Sakura was saying.

"What about it?" Tazuna retorted and Sakura turned her attention towards Kakashi.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei are there also shinobi in that country?"

Matsuri thought that was an odd question. She'd travelled to a lot of places as Mito's apprentice and only about half of them had official shinobi employed. Did Haruno-san really think that every country, big or small, had shinobi?

" _Every country has a weakness, Matsuri,"_ Mito had once said, _"and some don't need to depend on shinobi for protection."_

"No, there are no shinobi in Nami no Kuni," Kakashi said, his words forcing Matsuri's eyes to the present once more. "But while the culture and customs of other countries may be different, hidden villages and shinobi do exist."

 _It seems like the academy doesn't fully teach its students until they're out in the field,_ Matsuri mused _, they depend on the Jounin to further their knowledge…that explains why Suna's shinobi are typically better trained; all their training is completed in-village first before they even consider sending them out._

"To the many countries that exist in this land," Kakashi continued, "the existence of shinobi villages is the equivalent of the country's military power. In other words, that is how they are able to maintain relationships with neighboring countries. But the villages aren't under control of that country. They are supposedly equal in position. On a small island like Nami no Kuni, where it is difficult to be influenced by other countries, there is no need for a shinobi village…"

Matsuri reached up a hand to scratch at Bunseki's ears, causing a low rumbling to release from deep in his throat. There wasn't really any need for her to listen to Kakashi, after all, Mito had done more than just teach her Medical Ninjutsu, she taught her how to survive as a kunoichi who refused to use weapons.

"You all just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?" Kakashi said suddenly as Matsuri blinked turning towards the 'legitimate' Genin, surprise coloring her eyes as she turned to look at the three. Only Sasuke appeared unashamed as Naruto and Sakura quickly shook their heads to save face, not that it fooled anyone.

Kakashi reached down to pat Sakura's head, the dark material that made up his fingerless glove contrasting with her bright hair. "Don't worry," he assured her with a light smile (or, at least that was what it seemed like, but it was difficult to tell with the mask that covered most of his face), "we won't have any shinobi battles in a C-ranked mission."

" _Be prepared for anything,"_ was another thing that Mito had pressed into Matsuri. Just because it didn't seem like there would be any rain didn't mean that storm clouds wouldn't suddenly appear as though they had been summoned.

His reassurance seemed to relieve her and Matsuri frowned; shouldn't a kunoichi know better than to depend on others? Shouldn't she be ready to give her life for this mission? Konoha was really different from Suna, after all, and it made Matsuri miss the sun dunes not for the first time since her apprenticeship had begun.

"Then there's no worry about meeting a foreign shinobi?" Sakura asked.

"You're travelling with one," Matsuri felt the need to point out sullenly, earning another sharp glare from the girl. Seriously, what had the brunette done to earn her irritation? Matsuri suspected it might have something to do with Mito.

Kakashi gave a soft chuckle. "Barring Matsuri, there's nothing to worry about."

A long stretch of silence passed over them as they walked before it was broken by Naruto. "Ne, Matsuri…have you been all over the place with Mito-chan?"

Matsuri looked up from counting thick clumps of sand on the path. "Yeah…Kumo, Ame, Taki, Suna, Konoha, Kiri…we spent a few days in Kusa, but Shishou doesn't like Kusa much."

"Hm? Why?" Naruto probed. He had never been privy to the reasons behind Mito leaving Konoha in the first place over a year previously.

Matsuri shrugged. "Reasons." She could practically hear the Uchiha listening in. She skipped over a stray puddle of water as they passed, and they'd only passed by it by about ten feet when she heard it, the chink of metal.

She turned swiftly just in time to see two dark-haired assailants with the Kiri hitai-ate on the foreheads wrap their chains around the Jounin. Bunseki, who had been bored for almost an hour now leapt off her shoulders intent on returning to Konoha, no doubt for back-up.

At least two of his students gave out cries of alarm.

"First one," the pair intoned as they ripped the chains back, and the great Sharingan no Kakashi was ripped apart. Or was he? Something fell, but Matsuri couldn't smell any blood. A **Kawarimi** , then…

Sakura released a short scream of alarm and fear while Naruto yelled out the man's name as the pair moved to rest behind him with a murmur of "Second one."

Naruto froze, Matsuri wasn't sure if it was fear or something else, but she knew that if she didn't move fast, Uzumaki Naruto would be dead. Chakra belled out around her arms and she surged forward, her speed outstripping Sasuke's easily.

She didn't even breath when her hands sliced right through their chests and into their hearts.


	15. Backup Squad

" _Watch closely," Mito ordered to the pair sitting on the engawa in front of her, "this is a very refined technique that I created for amputation and decapitation."_

_Matsuri swallowed nervously, but Fuu's gaze was serious. She had killed before, but Matsuri never had, and certainly wasn't something she was looking forward to._

" _It's called the_ _ **Chakura Kira (Chakra Amputation),**_ _not very original, but rather self-explanatory." Mito shrugged her shoulders as she extended her arm towards them. "What you do is release chakra from the tenketsu points on the hand and arm until the chakra completely coats your arm." Green chakra glowed from the spots that Matsuri knew to be the tenketsu points before fanning out over her skin as though she was wearing a long glowing green glove._

" _This chakra is much sharper than yours is at this moment," Mito continued, moving towards a tree not too far away, forcing Fuu and Matsuri to follow her, "however, once you're farther in your training, this will be an easy technique, and you will be able to do this." And with that, Mito swung her arm horizontally, cleaving the tree in one slice. Awe colored Fuu's eyes as the top part of the tree fell instantly away, leaving a short stump behind, but Matsuri felt worry and a flicker of fear._

" _Um…Shishou…will we have to use this to kill people?" Matsuri asked nervously._

_Purple eyes surveyed her for a long moment. "You may find yourself with no other choice, Matsuri…tell me…let's say you come across shinobi that outmatch you and are seconds away from killing me or Fuu…would you rather we die or them?"_

" _Them," Matsuri said automatically._

_Mito placed a hand on her shoulder. "One day you might have to make that decision."_

All Matsuri could hear was the blood thudding in her ears, her body trembling with the shock of what she had done. She hadn't breathed and her mind had been completely blank when she'd cut the lives of the two attackers short. She could hear the others talking around her, but she couldn't understand what they were saying.

Was this how fast Tou-chan and Kaa-chan died?

"Matsuri…" Kakashi knelt down so he was level with her. "How do you feel?"

Matsuri's cheeks were wet with tears and her skin was feverish. She eyes cleared a little as she looked down at her bloodied hands. "I-I'm a monster," she whispered.

"No, you're not," Kakashi promised. "Sometimes shinobi are called upon to kill each other, it isn't a duty many like, some are good at it, others aren't…but sometimes it is necessary. You saved more than one life with your actions."

Matsuri gave a shaky nod, her eyes still fastened on her hands.

"Wash your hands in the stream and clean your face and then take a look at Naruto's hand, would you?"

Matsuri blinked and looked up, her eyes on the kunai he was holding and the profusely bleeding cut on his hand. She sighed, exhaling a low and trembling breath before moving towards the stream and thrusting her hands into the water, a cloud of crimson rising in the water as the blood left her skin. It was relieving in a way, but she still had two deaths on her conscience.

And then she stood, examining Naruto's hand.

"I'm not gunna die, am I?" Naruto asked in fear, his face shining with sweat the longer the frown remained on her face.

"The blood has already begun to congeal," she murmured to herself.

"Is-Is that bad?" Naruto demanded, his eyes darting to her face in anxiety.

"No, it means the blood has started to clot and begin the healing process," Matsuri said, pulling him towards the stream to wash off the blood to reveal a small pink mark. "Oh! You heal like Shishou!"

"I do?" Naruto asked in surprise. He hadn't really ever seen her injured, unless one counted the time he had visited her in the hospital after she had disappeared from the village, but Mito didn't talk much about it.

"It'll be fine in a few minutes," Matsuri continued like she hadn't heard him. "Don't worry about it."

The Kyuubi's must have been what healed him… Kakashi's eyes fell to the mark…but how could Senju Mito have a similar power if she wasn't a Jinchuuriki?

"…You said the mission's been upgraded to A-rank?" Matsuri asked, carefully ignoring the silent stares of Tazuna, Sasuke, and Sakura. "Shishou will probably be along in a few hours."

"What makes you say that?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Bunseki-san ran off," Matsuri said bluntly, pointing in the direction of the Tanuki's paw prints, "in the direction of Konoha, probably to inform Shishou of the situation. Since I'm here, the most likely option is that she'll offer herself and Fuu-san as two-team backup squad."

Kakashi blinked and Naruto stared. "That's quite the assessment."

Matsuri shrugged. "Shishou didn't just teach me Medical Ninjutsu, you know," she said sounding a little annoyed. "What use is a kunoichi that knows only one type of jutsu?...Well, it's better than no jutsu, I suppose."

"What did you say, you little brat?" Sakura demanded, incensed by her words that had been no doubt directed towards her; Matsuri didn't take kindly to people slighting her Shishou like she had seen Haruno-san do several times before.

Who did she think she was? Mito was an amazing master who had brought her potential to the surface, but the girl still held onto her beliefs that her parents had undoubtedly ingrained into her that the red-head was bad news.

"Maa maa, Sakura, calm down," Kakashi sighed, placing a restraining hand on his kunoichi student. "I'm sure Matsuri didn't mean that towards you."

Sasuke didn't have to be an interrogator to tell that Matsuri had meant it towards Sakura, and he had to admit, she was undoubtedly right. The only jutsu he had ever seen her perform were E-rank, but Matsuri had just downed to nuke-nin with an unranked jutsu.

It was going to be an interesting few days…especially if the Akai Senkou herself was coming, and Sasuke couldn't wait to see if she really deserved to be labeled as a B-rank nin in the Bingo Book.

* * *

Inoichi stroked his chin thoughtfully as Mito sipped her tea. "It sounds rather strange."

She didn't bother to hide her snort. "You're telling me and I'm the one who saw it first-hand." She was referring to the curious dream she had had while in Kiri, the one in which she saw her great-grandfather and spoke to him. "Is it possible for a seal of chakra to be transferred by blood?"

"And you're asking me?" Inoichi asked slightly incredulous. "Sealing is not really my forte, Mito."

"Jiraiya-oji's not here, Yoshino-san is busy, Naruto's nowhere near understanding the concept of it, but Shikaku-sensei said you and Yondaime-sama used to debate theories on Fuuinjutsu. You're my best bet." Her eyes were calm and serious and Inoichi resisted a sigh; the expression was one that he had seen Minato wear more than once, it was the only one his face had bore in battle.

"Theoretically," the T&I Head said at long last, "one could weave their chakra into a seal. Chakra is unique to each person, so it's basically an imprint of a person…I suppose it could pass through blood, if that was the intent of the sealer…but I've never heard of such a thing."

Mito nodded, closing her eyes. "Well, I expected that…maybe it's something my own memories concocted."

"Do you really believe that?" Inoichi asked her shrewdly.

Mito shrugged, draining the last of her team. "What is real and what is rational are not always the same thing, that's what Sensei says."

Inoichi grumbled something under his breath that was something along the lines of "Curse that guy for being so smart."

Mito pushed her chair back and stood, inclining her head slightly with respect. "Thank you for the tea, Inoichi-san, and the advice."

"Any time," Inoichi said as she excused herself, pulling on her sandals and exiting the home swiftly. Her leaving was so fast that she almost ran into a young civilian woman passing by whose face was leeched of color at the sight of the red-haired Senju. She veered away from her with a startled noise.

Inoichi 's lips pulled downwards into a scowl. Mito had been dealt a lot of bad cards in her life, and she certainly didn't need fear of the masses added to the list (too bad it was already there). And Inoichi was sure he knew who the leak was of that classified information, and he was certain Mito did too.

A harried shinobi almost bowled her over on her way down the street. "Mito-sama!"

"What does the Hokage need, Oukei?" Mito asked with a sigh as the spectacle-wearing shinobi took a quick breath.

"Not the Hokage, but your presence is required at the front gates, Kumo-nin has a sealed scroll that will combust unless it is you that unseals it," Oukei gasped out in what seemed to be one breath.

Mito frowned in confusion. A Kumo-nin? That was rare… then realization lit her eyes.

_"You will need a check up in a few months to ensure there is no debilitating damage done to your body, but I can do that under the pretext of a nearby mission I am sure..."_

So it must have come time for her to check up on the lovely Raikage…that man was by far her most difficult patient to date. She gave a single nod to the Chuunin before rushing past and in the direction of the front gates until she came to a stop before a very familiar blonde-haired man.

"Amai-san!"

The medic-nin that she had met when she was a child spared her a smile, bowing more lowly than what she was used to. "Mito-sama, it is a pleasure to see you again."

Kotetsu made an irritated noise from where he sat behind the podium. "Why is it that you seem to know every foreigner who comes through here these days?"

Mito rolled her eyes good-naturedly towards the Chuunin that was so clearly bored out of his skull while his partner was trying not to nod-off. Just when was their last break? "I traveled around a lot last year, it shouldn't surprise you…I was told you had a scroll for me, Amai-san?"

The blonde man reached into his pack and withdrew a small scroll, holding it out to her. Mito made a quick hand sign that broke the seal before unraveling it and reading it silently.

"So it's that time?" she inquired, her eyes darting up to meet his, understanding passing between the pair. Nothing in the scroll betrayed that the Raikage needed a checkup to ensure that none in the village knew of the condition he had once had. "Well, I guess you'll just follow me, then, and I'll take you to Sandaime-sama."

She nodded towards the two Chuunin who had verified his credentials before stepping back and heading towards the Hokage Tower.

"I almost didn't recognize you," Amai admitted as almost an afterthought.

"The hair, right?" Mito released a light laugh. "Yeah, but it's a pain keeping up that Genjutsu that keeps it flat." She raised a hand to curl around a lock of red. "But I think I like it better like this."

She looked less like her mother, Amai noticed, but perhaps that was her intention. He opened his mouth to speak a second time when a loud, out of breath voice punctured the air.

"Mito-sama!"

Mito turned, her eyes narrowing and her face turning so stony that Amai knew immediately that something was wrong. A small dog-sized Tanuki with a Konoha hitai-ate hanging from his neck skidded to a stop before them.

"What is it?" Mito demanded sharply. "What's happened?"

"An attack!" the Tanuki gasped. "I didn't stick around to find out, but I'm pretty sure they were missing-nin at the least."

The color of her eyes deepened to a dark plum and she turned towards Amai who rather found he didn't like a gaze like that turned on him, and it dawned on him just why the Akai Senkou was so feared.

"You wouldn't happen to have an up-to-date Bingo Book, would you?"

"Huh?" Amai asked in surprise.

"A Bingo Book," Mito said patiently. "Do you?"

As it so happened, he did, but that was only because he hadn't had the time to remove it after his last mission to Tsuchi no Kuni to track down a missing-nin that had bypassed Kumo completely. Mito took it without question, thumbing through the pages until she reached the section that held Kiri (it held a larger number of missing-nin than any of the other countries, major or minor) and then knelt to show the pictures to the Tanuki so he could identify the assailants.

The Tanuki shook his head a few times before picking them out. "Yeah! That guy and the one below him!"

Mito sighed standing once more and handing over the book to Amai. "Fuu's shift just ended at the hospital," she said, plainly speaking to the Tanuki more than she was to Amai. "Go inform her of this development and tell her to pack a bag; we might be going as backup."

The Tanuki nodded and darted off, leaving Mito to sigh not for the first time in the time span of five minutes.

"Sorry about this," Mito said, reaching up to run a hand through her wild hair as they continued on their way. "It was Matsuri's first C-rank without me."

Amai remembered the small brunette that had tailed Mito like a shadow when she was in Kumo. "I understand," he said. "You're worried about your apprentice."

Mito grimaced in chagrin as they entered the tower and began to climb the stairs. "Well, you're not wrong."

She knocked politely. "Hokage-sama, it's me, I've brought you a request from Kumo." She didn't bother waiting for a reply before entering with Amai following suit.

"From Kumo?" the Hokage puffed a bit of smoke out of his pipe, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the shinobi standing at a respectful distance away from Mito. This was both so that the Hokage could see that he didn't want to be perceived as a threat, and so that he could show respect to the superior medic-nin (everyone knew what that **Byakugou no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal)** meant).

Amai bowed swiftly and Mito relinquished her hold on the scroll she had unsealed only minutes previously. The Hokage took it without question, his eyes quickly scanning its contents.

"So…Raikage-sama wishes to have a few Genin teams compete in the Chuunin Exams, so he has requested a joint mission between Kumo and Konoha as a show of good faith?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Amai agreed. "Kumo and Konoha have been at odds for many years, it is a simple mission, only to be taken by two shinobi. We have nominated Nii Yugito and Raikage-sama has requested Senju Mito for the undertaking."

"I was not aware that the Raikage knew of Mito-san's abilities," the Hokage said in an almost dry manner.

"To be blunt, sir," Amai began, "Senju Mito met the Raikage at a young age and she was quite memorable, however there is no denying that she is in the Bingo Book, even if she hadn't paid a visit to Kaminari no Kuni during her…sabbatical." Amai's eyes flickered to Mito, but her face betrayed nothing.

Sandaime's eyes shifted to her as well. "And what is your opinion on the matter?"

"Having members of Kumo would certainly add to the challenge of the exams, and perhaps lighten the tension between our villages, even if it is just slightly," Mito responded diplomatically. "I would be honored to perform this duty for the sake of the village."

Smoke curled from his pipe as he took a long moment to ponder thoughtfully.

"You are a valuable asset to this village, Mito-san, I would hate to lose you," he told her suddenly and Mito felt rather flattered.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama…however, there is another issue that must be taken care of first."

"Oh?" The Hokage grunted.

"Team Seven has come into contact with two missing-nin from Kiri, Meizu and Gouzu, two who attempted to kill the previous Mizukage, Yagura-sama," Mito explained, causing the Hokage's face to darken. "As Fuu, Matsuri, and I make a full team, I believe Fuu and I would be best suited to backup Team Seven…therefore, the mission in Kumo would have to await until my return." She spared an apologetic glance towards Amai who gave her a shrug in return. It wasn't as though the Raikage's checkup was a pressing concern, it was just something he wanted to get out of the way and be certain that the effect of the Bakuretsuchuu had been negated by her removal months previously.

Hiruzen tented his fingers. "All the other Genin teams are currently out of the village, and your team does best know how to work with Matsuri-san…however, the mission to Kumo is an A-rank and of high importance."

"She's not needed for it immediately, Hokage-sama," Amai offered. "If Mito-sama is needed, I'll be more than happy to wait."

So the plans were made and the remaining two members of Team One set out, following after the trail left by Team Seven.

* * *

Naruto had to explain to Matsuri in a low voice of everything she had missed when she was in shock. It sounded like a man named Gatou, who was in control of practically everything in Nami no Kuni, was contracting out killers towards Tazuna-san because he was building a bridge that would undermine his business greatly.

This was why Matsuri was a kunoichi and not a businesswoman…though business seemed almost as cutthroat as the way of the shinobi from how Tazuna had described it.

Matsuri sighed. At least Shishou was on her way, that was the only consolation. The boat ride had been relatively silent, and Matsuri had to admit that the bridge was quite impressive. She could see how it could threaten a boating business, but certainly there were other places that he could earn him more money than Nami no Kuni.

"How long d'you think it'll take her to get here?" Naruto asked her with a wide grin and Matsuri had a vague impression that he wished to bet with her, but Matsuri had heard stories about Mito's mother, who was known as the Legendary Sucker in certain circles. Her debt had made Matsuri's jaw drop.

"Probably not as fast as she would if she was on her own," Matsuri said, frowning a little, "she's probably bringing Fuu-san with her."

"Eh?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and pinching his face. "Who?"

Matsuri sweatdropped slightly. Could he have seriously missed Fuu over the last few weeks when she came back from Kiri? Matsuri found it hard to believe, but Naruto was known for missing the obvious it seemed. "Fuu-san," she said, "Shishou's other apprentice…greenish hair, orange eyes, light brown skin…"

"Oh, that girl!" Naruto's voice raised slightly. "I think Shikamaru said she was a lot like Ino…"

"Well, he's not wrong," Matsuri muttered under her breath, but Naruto wasn't really listening a prickle of his senses drawing his attention away. He felt as though…they were being watched.

His kunai was in his hand in seconds and he shot it out and into a nearby bush.

"Always trust your instincts," Yoshino-oba had said, "every good shinobi does."

And then the feeling vanished…strange…

Matsuri grimaced at the sight of the sharp weapon, but she did not recoil.

"Stop showing off!" Sakura snarled behind them, jabbing a finger in his direction. "There's nothing there!"

Matsuri scowled at her; wasn't this the same girl that fawned over 'Sasuke-kun' being 'so cool'?

"Please, Naruto, don't use your kunai so abusively," Kakashi added.

But Naruto wasn't listening to them and Matsuri followed his gaze as he looked around. Was he…a sensory-type?

"Hey, you dwarf! Don't scare us like that!" Tazuna yelled to Naruto who gave a small grunt in return.

"There was something there!" Naruto insisted in a voice that was a bit resigned, far too used to people walking over him and what he said.

"I told you to stop!"

The next thing Naruto knew, he was clutching his head in pain from Sakura's punch. "What was that for? There really was something there!"

"Liar!" Sakura responded. "Cut it out!"

Matsuri could feel the iron sand shifting in the gourd strapped to her back as Kakashi moved through the bushes to find the kunai his student had thrown while Sakura continued to berate Naruto. Matsuri thanked the gods that she had never been like that; Mito would have never taken her on with such an attitude.

"Look at what you did!"

Matsuri followed Sakura's finger to a rabbit with pure white fur. Her brow furrowed; were rabbits supposed to be that color?

Naruto was hugging the stunned creature, apologies springing from his lips faster than Matsuri would have thought possible.

"Everybody, duck!"

Kakashi's order had everyone rushing to comply, just managing to miss the large blade that soared over them to lodge into a nearby tree and by the time Matsuri had looked up, a figure was resting atop it. He wore only the striped pale blue pants that many of Kiri wore with mimetic wrist warmers and leg warmers, bandages over his mouth and the Kiri hitai-ate tied so that the metal plating was on the side of his head and not the front of it.

"Oh, my, my, my," Kakashi said in a light voice, "you are Momochi Zabuza, a missing-nin of Kirigakure."

That seemed like more than enough reason for Naruto to rush in. Last time he hadn't kept his nerve, but this time he would!

But Kakashi's hand was thrown out from his side, stopping him, and stalling him from moving forward.

"You're in the way," he told him calmly, "everyone stay back."

"Isn't he the one they call the Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Mist)?" Matsuri asked, her hands tensing into fists.

"Clever girl," Zabuza said, his voice much lower than Shikaku's as he spoke, and then Naruto found his eyes on Kakashi as he raised a hand to lift his slanted headband when Zabuza chuckled.

"I'm guessing you're the great Sharingan no Kakashi," he added without much need. Kakashi's identity was well known in the Bingo Book. "I'm sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer," he said, turning to face them more, even if all they could was his eyes.

Kakashi ignored him. "Everyone," he said, "form the swastika formation, protect Tazuna-san. Don't join the battle."

"What?" Sakura asked and Sasuke looked a bit insulted at not being allowed to test his worth a second time, or perhaps he was upset about the 'Sharingan' comment by Zabuza, it was his family's Kekkei Genkai, after all.

"To not interfere with the battle is teamwork." And at last, Kakashi straightened the headband to reveal a blood-red iris with three tomoe circling the pupil. That was the eye that could copy a thousand jutsu, the eye that Mito called the 'Shortcut'. "Fight me," he said instead to Zabuza.

The bandages over the missing-nin's mouth rippled. "I'm honored that I can see the Sharingan that I've heard about," he said.

"Wait…what exactly is the Sharingan?" Sakura asked.

Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who answered her, and even more shocking was how his voice did not contain a condescending edge, only factual. "Shinobi who have the Sharingan eye have mastered a form of ocular Ninjutsu that is said to be able to see through any Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu and cancel their effects…but it also has another ability."

"Correct," Zabuza said and Matsuri felt rather as though she were in a classroom with how everyone was taking the time to explain everything…Mito was mostly a teach-and-go kind of teacher. "The scary part is that the Sharingan can understand how an opponent's techniques work, and copy it."

The mist thickened around them, and Matsuri recognized the technique easily. It was the **Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in Mist Technique)** that she had seen Fuu use once, one that she had learned from Mito. Matsuri could sense the chakra laced throughout the mist, almost like a web, and they were the trapped flies waiting to be eaten.

Matsuri breathed in and out, raising her hands in front of her, palm against palm, and the sand slowly began to filter out and create a small cloud over her head. Zabuza didn't seem to notice, his attention focused on the renowned shinobi who had more kills and techniques under his belt than the three Konoha Genin and Matsuri put together (though Matsuri would wager that she knew the most).

"It looks like I'm going to have to kill you first…Kakashi," Zabuza said, and Matsuri could hear the smirk in his voice as the four children moved to guard the client on all sides. And then he reached to wrench the massive blade from the tree, vanishing in seconds only to reappear on top of the water of the nearby stream, making a simple hand sign.

If the mist had been difficult to see through before, now it was downright impossible. Matsuri could barely see Kakashi five feet in front of them. Her sand swirled around her restlessly and for a second she thought her sand was rather like Gaara-sama's.

"He'll try to eliminate me first…"

"What is he?" Sakura asked, her voice surprisingly small.

"He is Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi said simply, "he was in Kirigakure's ANBU, and was known for his 'silent killing' techniques."

"So…he's basically the Kiri-version of Mito?" Naruto guessed.

"In some ways," Kakashi had to concede. "But stay on guard, it is possible you might be dead before you realize it, and even I cannot use my Sharingan to its fullest potential."

Silence fell, growing as heavy as the fog, from which a voice echoing all around them could be heard. "There are eight targets…throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, heart…so many choices, what vital, vulnerable shall I choose?" He chuckled darkly and the Genin shivered slightly, but Matsuri had a different upbringing than them.

A sudden blast of chakra forced the mist away slightly and Matsuri's eyes fasted on Kakashi's back, his form glowing from the release of chakra. The Killing Intent was impressive, Matsuri had to admit as she clenched her fist, the cloud of sand thickening, however the other three weren't faring so well.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, no doubt sensing a greater anxiety from the Uchiha, "Don't worry, I'll protect the three of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die."

Naruto flinched.

" _Ne, Oba-san, what happened to Tou-chan's students?" Naruto asked Yoshino, his legs swinging against the engawa._

_Yoshino's eyes saddened. "Two were killed during the war, Uchiha Obito and Rin, a gifted medic-nin, he only has one still living."_

But then Kakashi turned back to give them a slight smile.

"I don't know about that," Zabuza's disembodied voice chuckled and suddenly he was behind their defense, intent on Tazuna, but Matsuri's sand moved with her will, spiraling around the man in a protective manner, not creating a full dome, but protective enough as he moved for the kill before being knocked away by the swiftly moving Kakashi.

However, the kunai that Kakashi connected with Zabuza only spilled water…a Mizubunshin.

The next events were so fast that Matsuri could barely keep up. The original Zabuza came behind Kakashi as the bunshin dissolved into water once more to slice through Kakashi with his blade, but that Kakashi was a Mizubunshin as well, and the real one was behind him, a kunai to his throat.

"This is the end," he said.

"A-Amazing!" Naruto hardly dared to breathe, and Sakura made a similar noise of agreement, but they both stopped when Zabuza began to chuckle.

"Is this the end?" he asked, clearly amused. "You don't understand. Pale imitations will not defeat me…but you are pretty good, making sure that bunshin of yours had my attention completely while you hid away in the mist, waiting to strike…however…"

Shock overtook Kakashi's features as the voice came from behind him. "I am not that easy to fool!"

Kakashi ripped through the Zabuza in front of him, the water dropping to the ground once its state was dispersed. He turned swiftly to face the true one, before ducking as the wide blade was swept over him. He missed death by inches.

Zabuza stabbed the sword into the ground, using the hilt as leverage as he kicked him violently away and into the same stream he had stood on top of only moments ago, following at a pace that Matsuri doubted she could match.

"Fool!" Zabuza laughed, his hands forming into several hand signs. " **Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)**!"

The water around Kakashi lifted until he was trapped in a sphere of water that may have looked easy to break out of, but Matsuri doubted that was the case.

"You're giving me too much trouble by roaming around free," he said, "I'll deal with you later, after I've dealt with them."

Matsuri's eyes turned positively stony as a new Mizubunshin appeared.

"Little shinobi wannabes," he chuckled, "there's more to being a shinobi than wearing that hitai-ate. A shinobi is one who has gone through numerous life and death situations. You need to be listed in my Bingo Book in order for me to count you as a shinobi. You aren't shinobi."

The mist grew again and the first attack was aimed at Naruto who gave a sudden yell as he was kicked harshly in the stomach, throwing him backwards, his hitai-ate flying off, the Mizubunshin stamping on it with his foot.

"You're just a bunch of kids."

"Naruto!" Sakura gave a startled noise at the strike against the blonde.

"Everyone!" Kakashi called from the water prison. "Get Tazuna-san and run! You can't win against him!"

"We don't need to."

All the eyes turned towards Matsuri who was only slightly impressed with her own boldness. "Backup is coming, we only need to hold out until they reach us, and it won't be long now." Her dark eyes met the enemy's and she did not flinch. "I wonder if you've got the Konoha no Akai Senkou in your Bingo Book."

"So…Tsunade's little girl came back did she," Zabunza grinned, "she almost overtook my record of silent kills, impressive brat."

Matsuri bristled and Naruto lunged, moving towards the hitai-ate that had been torn from his forehead, the one he had worked so hard to earn.

"Idiot," Zabuza said, throwing a kick to the boy, but Naruto dodged in a fast move that Kakashi would have thought he had learned from his father if he wasn't already dead, swiping up the headband before dodging a second blow as he took up his spot once more just seconds before Zabuza raised his blade only to have something hard and strong connect with it.

"Sorry we're late," a mild voice said, "you wouldn't believe the traffic."

A fist glowing with chakra had collided with the flat surface of the sword and violet eyes glimmered up at the missing-nin.

"Hello, Zabuza-san," Senju Mito said.


	16. Development of Teamwork

It took Sakura exactly five seconds to realize that the fist that had collided with the blade was much too large to belong to the Senju and then fear swelled inside of her at the sight of the bulging beige-colored claw that her hand so incased inside.

What…what _was she?_

"You know…" Mito said in a forced mild voice. "I had to put an A-rank on the back burner to come and save you lot…and I'm sure the Raikage won't be too pleased…" She tightened her fist, thrusting it through the Mizubunshin and leaving only water behind.

"I've heard the Raikage is quite temperamental," the girl who had come with her agreed and Sakura found herself vaguely startled by her frankly bizarre appearance.

Mito gave a brief snort before glancing behind her to the four that were guarding the client. Her lips twitched at the sight of Matsuri's barrier.

"Why don't you four stay out of the way and let us handle this?" she advised more than asked.

"No way!" Naruto complained, already rifling through his bag before tossing a folded Fuuma shuriken to Sasuke who grabbed it in surprise.

Fuu arched an eyebrow to Mito, but the red-head did not comment. The blonde would've had to have made the switch when Mito's fist connected with the Kubikiribouchou…that didn't leave him much time…very impressive.

Fuu's eyes swept over the boy as the Uchiha leapt into action. His hair was a spiky blonde, held at bay by the hitai-ate that he had just retied to his forehead, his eyes were a bright, impossible blue, and he had whisker marks on either cheek.

So this was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi?

She turned back to the battle before the boy could notice her glance, though she did throw one towards Mito who remained inexpressive; Fuu almost hated when she did that, but poker faces were a good thing to have in battle.

The water shot upward, no doubt intending to form a new Mizubunshin when the Uchiha released the shuriken, slicing right through it and heading towards the real Zabuza that was keeping up the orb of water around Kakashi.

"Should we interfere?" Fuu asked.

"Clause number two," Mito reminded her.

"No medic-nin shall ever stand on the frontlines," Fuu intoned. "But you break that rule all the time."

"I have mastered the **Ninpou Souzou Saisei – Byakugou no Jutsu (Ninja Art Creation Rebirth – Strength of a Hundred Technique),** therefore I am not bound to the first three clauses," Mito said, sounding just a trifle smug, though she had never used it before and it was the only S-rank jutsu she had in her arsenal.

Zabuza caught the first shuriken and leapt over the shuriken easily and with an obvious smirk, but it only lasted a few seconds as the shuriken poofed into Naruto holding one of his father's tri-pronged kunai in his hand that he threw quickly.

Zabuza had to remove his hand from the prison in order to not have it drive through his face, and Naruto only succeeded in nicking the skin above his zygomatic bone. Clearly he hadn't been anticipating being wounded, even if it was that minor.

Unadulterated rage overtook his features as he aimed to fling the shuriken when it collided with something slightly metallic and he looked stunned as Kakashi intercepted the sharp blades with his metal-plated fingerless gloves.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to where Naruto was in the water, but then he blinked; he had gone. And then the blonde Genin was standing beside Mito. Had she even moved? Or was she just that fast?

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried in elation at the sight of the silver-haired Jounin's escape.

"Naruto, your plan was impressive," Kakashi said, his voice slightly out of breath from his time in the water, and Naruto relished in the compliment; he was on the receiving end of so few.

"Huh," Zabuza scoffed, scowling at the boy standing beside the red-haired Akai Senkou. The way he had dodged his attack before had been quite impressive, perhaps a move picked up from the kunoichi herself, if the close stance to her was any indicator of their closeness. "I lost myself temporarily and cancelled the **Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)."** The "He was lucky" went unsaid.

"Sounds more like an excuse," Matsuri grumbled a bit to herself, making Mito smile.

"No," Kakashi disagreed, "You didn't cancel the technique, you were _forced_ to."

Naruto sniggered and Sasuke snorted.

A flicker of Killer Intent flared as Zabuza glared venomously at Kakashi.

"Let me just tell you," Kakashi said, his voice containing just a hint of warning, "the same technique won't work against me twice. What are you going to do now?"

Zabuza did not speak, merely swinging the three free blades up to connect with the one digging into Kakashi's hand.

"Is that going to take off his hand?" Naruto asked Mito in worry.

"Perhaps…if he was applying a considerable amount of force," Mito conceded, "but he seems to just be attempting to hinder his ability to use hand seals."

A grunt of agreement occurred behind Naruto and the blonde scowled at how Sasuke had picked that up before he had.

But Kakashi could easily see what he was trying to do and he raised his arm slightly and flinging it to the side, forcing it up into the air and away from them.

They moved fast, Matsuri noticed as she ducked around Tazuna to stare as the pair jumped away from each other to gain distance between one another, their hands twisting into seals faster than Matsuri would have believed possible, and they were making them at _the same time!_

And it was a lot of seals.

Matsuri felt the wave of chakra even before it formed into a jutsu, and it was pretty damn impressive if you asked her. And then the water rippled, drawing upwards between the pair to two dragons made completely of water.

" **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)**!"

The dragons rose and spun in the air before colliding violently with one another and causing a flood of water to rise against those that were on the land, and using the distraction, Zabuza had raised his blade against Kakashi only to connect with his kunai.

"Ne…Mito-sensei?"

"Hm?" Mito made a small noise in the back of her throat.

"Are you going to get rid of that arm?" Fuu asked with an arched eyebrow, directing her eyes towards the thick claw of Shukaku's that her arm had taken on.

Mito sighed. "One moment." She gripped her upper arm with her opposite hand and the spiraling black patterns on her arm leeched away as the claw faded away. Mito breathed out sharply and she knew her face had to have attained a pallor. She may be slowly but surely gaining Shukaku's trust, but that didn't mean using his skills weren't going to cause her a tiny bit of pain.

"Shishou?" Matsuri piped up in concern as Kakashi and Zabuza separated once more. "Are you alright?"

"Nothing that's debilitating, Matsuri," Mito said mildly, "now please focus."

Matsuri's head ducked slightly at the rebuke and Mito's eyes narrowed, glancing out to the side in the direction that she sensed suppressed chakra. It seemed they had an uninvited guest.

And then Mito focused her eyes to the front where Kakashi had created a giant blast of water that had swept Zabuza under in seconds, only to eventually force him harshly against a tree before several kunai nailed him in the arms and torso. And just when Kakashi was about to give the final blow, someone else did it for him.

A senbon sliced through his neck and Matsuri glanced towards Mito, but it was not she that had thrown it. It belonged to a figure in the trees wearing a Hunter-nin mask from Kiri.

Mito found she did not particularly care about the words that were spoken, focusing more on the person's scent that was filtering through her nose. It seemed remarkably similar to Zabuza's, and Mito's hypothesis was proved correct when the hunter-nin knelt to pick up the stilled body as opposed to destroying it on the spot.

Kakashi sighed, leaping down from his tree to slant his headband over his Sharingan eye, and Mito was glad to see it gone. "We need to escort Tazuna-san to his home," he continued, startling his students, as they were still staring at the spot that the hunter-nin and Zabuza had disappeared from.

"You're not going to get very far."

Kakashi looked back towards Mito who was tapping at a spot just under her eye. "Pushing yourself too hard is damaging, Kakashi-san."

As she spoke Kakashi could feel the truth in her words at the sudden weakness in his limbs. He would have fallen had she not moved forward to pull him over her shoulder as though he was a particularly heavy sack of flour. But unfortunately, his limbs were long, and Mito was short so it resulted in his hands dragging against the earth.

"So," she began, "where exactly is this house?"

* * *

Mito stepped out from room where Team Seven was lounging around with her two apprentices.

"He'll be fine," she told them and Sakura and Naruto gave the most noticeable sighs of relief while Sasuke's stiffened body relaxed slightly. "He's just suffering from a bit of exhaustion. He'll be back to his usual self soon, I wouldn't get too worried." Her eyes flicked towards her apprentices briefly. "You can sit with him, if you like, but he shouldn't awaken until tomorrow."

And then she gestured Matsuri and Fuu forward and they moved out of the front door of Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami's, house.

"You made your first kill today," Mito mentioned lightly and Fuu inhaled suddenly, the scent of blood having escaped her notice until now. Even though Matsuri had scrubbed vigorously at her arms, it had done little to dull the scent.

Matsuri swallowed thickly, her eyes shifting downwards to her hands, the bile rising in her throat slightly at the memory of the warm red liquid that had stained them not so long ago.

"I, I didn't want to," Matsuri admitted, her dark eyes shining with tears, "but, but—"

"Matsuri, its alright," Mito told her, and Fuu smiled slightly. "We've all got blood on your hands."

"But I wanted to be a medic-nin to protect people—!"

"Matsuri," Mito cut her off, "there is more to being a medic-nin than just protecting people, and your actions saved more than one life today. Even Fuu will tell you that."

"Yeah, kid," Fuu nodded in agreement, "sometimes protecting people means you have to kill someone."

Matsuri turned so white she was almost green.

"Go inside and get some rest," Mito told her, "Fuu and I will be back in a minutes."

Her youngest apprentice was all too eager to leave her side and it wasn't until the door had closed behind her that Fuu spoke.

"She's taking it pretty hard," Fuu mentioned.

"No one wants to be a killer," Mito said, her eyes distant and Fuu knew well the feeling. "But she's got to realize that even medics have blood on their hands."

"Yeah, but the first kill is the hardest," Fuu said glancing towards her, "wasn't it for you?"

Mito's eyes darkened to a violet color that told Fuu that she'd asked the wrong question. "I don't know," she said, "I barely remember the first I killed…I was so young…"

Fuu was young too, but she doubted that young. The first man she'd killed was when she was nine and she had been sickened, but also incensed by how the maltreatment of her village towards her increased to a dangerous level that Fuu had honestly considered defecting (which was kind of what had happened anyways, but for all Taki was aware of, Fuu was dead).

"Come on," Mito sighed, "we should get back."

* * *

"Feeling better, Kakashi-san?"

Fuu flashed a light in the shinobi's eyes, checking for appropriate pupil constriction and dilation. She leaned back once she'd finished examining him.

"Better than yesterday," Kakashi said, yawning through his mask (Fuu was impressed that the move didn't drag the mask down).

"Everything looks normal," Fuu added, "his chakra levels are back to normal as well."

"Maybe you don't want to overuse that eye again," Mito mentioned lightly; she knew all-too-well the effects of the Sharingan, especially on the user's sight.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Mito forced herself to not roll her eyes at his tone.

"Who was that boy with the mask?" Sakura asked suddenly, blushing when all the eyes turned towards her.

"Don't they have Hunter-nin in Konoha?" Fuu asked in confusion.

"There aren't very many," Kakashi admitted from the cot, "and each village has a different way of masking their Hunter-nin identities."

"The masks Suna uses are similar to the ones people wear in Noh theatre," Matsuri interjected, "but you don't see them a lot."

"Why's that?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"They don't have a lot of Missing-nin because they can't afford it," Mito said shortly from where she was leaning against the wall. "But that boy was dressed like a typical Kiri Hunter-nin, but he wasn't."

"How d'you know that?" Naruto asked, frowning intently.

"The Hunter-nin of Kiri made a name for themselves for being incredibly precise and following protocol almost religiously," Fuu said in a semi-bored tone. "You're supposed to dispose of the body immediately, not take it away, that would be a breach in protocol."

"And the senbon Zabuza-san was 'killed' with were in locations that can induce the appearance of death," Matsuri added.

Kakashi tilted his head to look towards Mito who looked particularly proud.

"Just how much are you teaching your apprentices?" he asked in amusement.

Mito released a short laugh. "They pick up on things rather quickly."

"So the guy who took Zabuza away wasn't a Hunter-nin?" Sasuke asked shrewdly.

"I should think not," Kakashi said. "It's more likely that the boy was Zabuza's accomplice and that he is still alive."

" _What?!"_ Naruto and Sakura cried as one.

"But he didn't have a pulse," Sakura insisted.

"The senbon can give the illusion of no pulse if they're positioned correctly, as Matsuri said," Mito told her unblinkingly.

"Senbon have a low fatality rate," Kakashi agreed as he sat up, "unless it hits a critical spot. Hunter-nin know the structure of the human body quite well, it's how they're able to take out their targets so quickly. But it also means that putting someone in a death-like trance would be child's play…"

Mito's eyes flickered over to Sasuke and Naruto and it was difficult to tell who was more excited at the thought of Zabuza being alive, but the knowledge worried her. The Raikage was not a patient man, exactly how much attention could she divert from the A-rank that had been requested of her? Kakashi and his team were clearly outmatched, especially given how green the Genin were.

Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones who knew techniques above an E-class, so it was Sakura that concerned her more.

"Wait," Sakura's voice drew her back into the conversation, "even if we train, it's not going to be very helpful. You had a hard time with him, Kakashi-sensei, and you have the Sharingan."

"Sakura," Kakashi said lightly, "who saved me when I had a difficult time?"

Naruto beamed proudly and Sasuke permitted a small smirk to be seen.

"You three are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you, Naruto."

Naruto started in surprise before an even wider grin broke across his face. "Really?" he asked.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed, his eyes closing to show he was smiling, "you've grown the most."

The sound of the front door opening and shutting had several pairs of eyes flickering towards the small boy that had entered. He was very young with dark hair and eyes, his face set in a perpetually somber expression.

"Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna called to the boy and the boy, Inari, ran to him, hugging him tightly, ignoring the shinobi as he welcomed his grandfather home.

"Inari, say hello to them," Tsunami reproached as she moved out of the kitchen to scold her son, "These are the shinobi that escorted your Jiji-san."

His eyes were strange to Mito, like he was trying not to feel anything at all…it reminded her a little of Gaara's eyes, only his were far more unnerving.

"Kaa-san, they're going to die," he said and Mito arched an eyebrow. "There's no way a person can win by going against Gatou."

"What did you say, you brat?!"

Fuu wrenched Naruto back by the back of his jacket, keeping him from flying at the child. If anything could be said about Naruto in the year that she had been gone his restraint hadn't really improved.

"I'm a hero who's going to be the Hokage one day! I don't know who this Gatou is, but he's no enemy of mine!"

Naruto was the king of making outbursts, that much was evident to Mito, but it was Inari's response to his words that was most telling.

"A _hero?"_ he snorted humorlessly. "That's stupid, there's no such thing as a hero."

Children liked to believe in heroes and fairytales, that was simply the way it was. Mito never had because she had never really been a child. Fairytales were a luxury that she hadn't been afforded and at the time she'd always felt she had more in common with the villains in those stories than the heroes.

So she had to wonder what had made Inari stop believing.

* * *

"They don't teach chakra control until you've reached Genin-level?" Fuu demanded incredulously later that day as they stood watch over the bridge-builder and his men.

The sun was shining overhead and Fuu was balancing effortlessly on a beam while Matsuri was doing one-handed hand-stands (if anyone asked, no, Mito did not get the idea from Gai-sensei, that was merely a coincidence).

"They believe it's up to the Jounin sensei to teach them chakra control," Mito said with a shrug. It had never been an issue with her, her chakra control had been exceptional by the time she'd come to Konoha.

"But you still need to perform techniques in order to pass the Genin exam, don't you?" Matsuri asked as she switched her right arm with her left, her face bright red from the blood flowing to it. "How can you do that if you don't have any chakra control?"

"Well, most academy students don't have enough chakra that they need to focus—"

"So how did Naruto pass?" Fuu inquired. "He's got to have as much chakra as you have and I used to have."

"Still irritated about that, Fuu-san?" Matsuri piped up with a grin as she flipped back onto her feet.

Fuu's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "I've still got more chakra than you, Matsuri, _thank you very much."_

Matsuri's expression soured at that.

"Don't worry, Matsuri, you have low-Chuunin-level chakra reserves," Mito assured her, "and that's more than most of the Genin in Konoha."

"Are we ever going to train with the other Genin teams?" Fuu asked in curiosity, leaping down to sit on the bridge's rail.

"The Chuunin Exams are coming up," Mito said, "and it's going to be Genin against Genin, the village you hail from won't matter. That's why I want to wait until after the Exams."

"So you don't give our competitors an edge," Fuu nodded approvingly.

"Doesn't that mean we might end up fighting each other, though?" Matsuri asked with a frown.

"Maybe," Mito said, "but the Chuunin Exams are tests of more than your skill in battle, and I've heard a rumor that Morino Ibiki is going to be one of the proctors."

"Who's Morino Ibiki?" Fuu asked.

"He's the Head of T&I," Mito said, her lips twisting upwards. "He was one of the shinobi that interrogated you when you got here, he's the one with the scarred face."

Fuu shivered from the top of her sea-foam-colored hair to her white sandals. "He was intense."

"After the exams are done, Matsuri is going to be returning to Suna," Mito added and Matsuri perked up. "Hopefully, by then you'll be one of the best in the village."

Matsuri beamed proudly and Fuu, to her credit, didn't shoot her down. Matsuri had been studying longer than her and was farther along in her studies of Medical Ninjutsu, so it made sense.

"Can-can I join you?" an uncomfortable voice asked and three heads turned to look upon Haruno Sakura.

Matsuri frowned. "She doesn't like you, Shishou," she told Mito swiftly.

Mito blinked blankly as Sakura's cheeks reddened and Fuu coughed to cover a chuckle.

"Half the village doesn't like me," she said as if it came as no surprise to her.

"My former village threw a party when they heard the rumor of my death," Fuu mused thoughtfully.

That information startled Sakura; who would want to celebrate someone's death? That was just horrible!

"That wasn't a rumor," Mito interjected, "you were actually dead when I found you."

"Eh," Fuu waved a hand carelessly with a yawn, "only for a few seconds."

The three of them were so casual with each other that Sakura wished that her team was the same, but given who it was made up of, that was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

"You can join us," Mito informed her loudly as Matsuri and Fuu began to argue over what constituted 'dead'. "We're not doing much…are the boys still trying to walk up the tree?"

"Um-yes," Sakura swallowed thickly. She had heard the rumors concerning Mito, but she didn't seem so fear-inducing as she had been described as being. "I think it might be a bit yet before they manage it."

"Chakra control, I tell you!" Fuu shook her fist at Mito while locking Matsuri's head under her arm. "This is what should have been taught in the academy!"

A short laugh left Mito's lips. "I'll be sure to inform the Hokage of your disagreements with the academy program."

Matsuri jabbed Fuu in the arm, forcing her to release her.

"You do that," Fuu said, rubbing at the spot on her arm that Matsuri had hit, her arm radiating with numbness from the tenketsu being pressed.

"Kakashi-sensei sent me to join you because I mastered the tree-walking," Sakura said. "You don't mind do you?"

Matsuri narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Sakura, crossing her arms. If there was one thing Matsuri was exceedingly good at, it was holding a grudge. But she didn't say anything.

"Sure," Mito said. "We're just watching from the distance." She nodded towards where Tazuna was hammering away at a new plank only to stand up and speak in quiet tones with a nervous looking man.

"Looks like another one's quitting," Matsuri surmised. "That's the second one today…is this Gatou guy really that scary?"

"Doubtful," Fuu contemplated, "but I bet he's got a lot of mercenaries at his beck and call, so that might help with his 'fear factor'."

"And they don't have any shinobi to protect them," Mito added. "So they probably feel a bit helpless, but mercenaries only go where the pay is good, once he dries out they'll be off to someone else who needs man-power."

"Cutting off the head of the snake," Fuu hummed in agreement. "Can we do that?"

"We aren't decapitating anyone!" Matsuri snapped suddenly and several eyes fixed on her with her hands shaking.

Sakura remembered how the younger girl had shook, looking down at her hands stained in blood and for a moment she was glad she hadn't been strong enough to kill the Oni Kyoudai.

* * *

Sakura's eye twitched and Fuu's disgust was evident as the two boys shoveled their food quickly into their mouths. It wasn't something pleasant to look at, that was for sure.

"Do you think they know that eating that much and puking it up isn't good?" Matsuri muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Mito who had actually pressed a hand over her eyes, her exasperation evident.

"I don't think its crossed their minds," she said with a sigh. "Come on, let's check the perimeter and make sure there aren't any mercenaries wondering around…"

Mito stood and thanked Tsunami for the meal and left the house with her two apprentices trailing after her.

"Sometimes I'd just rather deal with someone like Shikamaru-kun than Naruto," Mito sighed, "at least he knows his limits."

"He just wants to beat the Uchiha," Fuu said with a snort. "I can't blame him for that; the kid's got arrogance issues."

"Everyone's got an ego," Mito conceded, "even me."

" _Really?_ Do tell!"

Mito shot Fuu a stare. "You are really reminding me of Ino, you know."

They strolled silently through the quiet village. The darkness shrouded the houses and the street lights created shadows that danced across the ground.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Shishou," Matsuri said suddenly, "what're we supposed to do if Zabuza-san shows up again?"

"Hang back unless Team Seven is in trouble," Mito told her as they circled around a bend, her bright purple eyes almost black in the darkness as she checked for anyone who could be hiding in the shadows. "That's all we're supposed to do as back-up. Besides, we're Medic-nin, we're not supposed to be in the line of fire to begin with."

"Which sucks because I can totally kick ass," Fuu grumbled, slouching her stance.

"It just means you might not get a lot of action for this mission," Mito continued, rolling her eyes for good measure.

"I need to kill something sooner or later," Fuu told her, her fingers curling into claws.

"How about a tree?" Matsuri offered her helpfully in an innocent voice that fooled no one.

A faint smile wormed its way onto Mito's lips and her two apprentices dissolved into another argument concerning their differences of opinion.


	17. Turmoil of the Waves

Uchiha Sasuke was jealous, and that was a rarity for him not seen since his brother's departure from the village after slaughtering their clan.

But Sasuke was jealous of Senju Mito.

She had strength he didn't have, skill he didn't have, and though her eyes were haunted by all the lives she had claimed, she could still smile and laugh.

Her strength fascinated him because he'd seen her knock over a tree by accident when she was training with Fuu. Her skills fascinated him because she moved with precision, as though every step was carefully thought out.

And that fighting style…Sasuke would _kill_ for anything like it.

"Teach me," he demanded one day after working for hours on end beside Naruto to master the tree-walking exercise.

Mito, who had been looking over a scroll carried by her tanuki companion, Bunseki, its contents written in code while Fuu attempted to come up with an antidote to a poison Matsuri had concocted without much avail, looked up, blinking her violet eyes a few times in incomprehension.

"What?" she finally said blankly and slightly incredulously.

Matsuri and Fuu's attention slipped from a prospective antidote to stare at the impending argument.

"Teach me," he repeated.

"No," she said coolly, "you are not skilled enough for me to teach."

"What?" Sasuke was incensed by her words.

"My students have certain qualities you lack," Mito said with certainty, narrowing her eyes before turning her eyes from him to glance over the contents of the scroll.

Sasuke seethed quietly, clenching his hands into fists before striding out the door, shutting it so loudly that it the noise echoed.

"Do you have to be so rude to him?"

Mito glanced up and Sakura flinched back. She'd begun to see Mito as more of a person, but she still didn't like her very much, and Sakura hadn't gained much of a backbone when speaking to her.

"He demanded her to teach him because he thinks he's special," Fuu snorted, "don't you think _that's_ rude?"

"He _is_ special," Sakura insisted, "he's an Uchiha and the rookie of our year."

"So he gets special treatment?" Matsuri asked frowning.

"And we've already found your quality of education to be lacking," Fuu remarked, inhaling the sample of poison. "The Chuunin Exams found be fun…if you last that long."

She grinned in a feral manner.

"Haruno-san," Mito said, bringing her attention back to the Senju, "do you know how long it took me to perfect my fighting style? Three years. Do you know how many people have actually been able to replicate it perfectly? Four. It's an incredibly precise form that is a mixture of Juuken and Gouken that even with his Sharingan activated he wouldn't be able to copy simply because of its precision. It was made for people who possess refined chakra, unlike your friend. He doesn't have the skill to use it, and maybe he never will."

Sakura gave her a glare before stalking off after Sasuke.

"If Ino fights her in the exams, she's toast," Fuu decided once the pink-haired kunoichi had vanished into the forest.

"Probably," Matsuri agreed. "Why's being an Uchiha so important?"

"Because they were once a formidable clan," Mito shrugged, "with only one left, the village tends to give him special attention."

"What about you?" Fuu asked her, her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're one of the last of the Senju clan."

Mito laughed humorlessly. "Yes, but I'm also a foreigner with access to red chakra."

"How would they have known about that chakra?" Matsuri asked. "Aren't mission details sealed?"

Mito's eyes narrowed and darkened slightly, thinking of the man she believed to be responsible. Who else could have been behind it? Shimura Danzou had always been against her joining the shinobi ranks given who she was and where she was born, and she was sure he had been just as disapproving towards Fuu. The only difference was Fuu was no longer a Jinchuuriki and Mito was (even if very few people knew she was), with access to the red chakra of Shukaku.

"There are a few councilors that tried to have me removed from the force after I revealed my hand," Mito said distantly, "that was when I decided to take my sabbatical…and months afterwards my ANBU partner was killed in action."

Matsuri and Fuu shared a glance.

"You think someone was behind that?" Matsuri queried. "Someone high up."

"It wouldn't have been the first time it happened," Mito snorted, recalling just how many times her own father had order the death of his two youngest children; unfortunately for him, his efforts had failed.

"We should talk about something else," she decided, "Fuu, have you come up with an antidote for Matsuri's poison yet?"

"No!" Fuu grumbled, banging her head against the table. "I don't know why you're making me try! You _know_ how good she is at poisons!"

Mito smiled faintly while Matsuri full-on beamed. Fuu didn't give out many praises –much like Mito in that aspect–, she was more often prone to cynicism and insults more than anything else.

"Maybe you'll come across a poison in the field that will require an antidote and you'll need some kind of way to neutralize it," Mito said with a shrug, "I'm not too great with them either, but you should at least know the basics."

Fuu seemed relieved to discover that not being as adept at identifying poisons was not as terrible as she had thought it to be. It was a relief to discover that she was on the same page as Mito concerning the subject.

"How long do you think before Team Seven fights against Zabuza-san again?" Matsuri asked curiously.

"I don't know," Mito said, "but hopefully within the week…it seems the Raikage is more prone to impatience than before…Amai gives it two days before he sends another messenger to find out what's holding me up."

Maybe it would be tomorrow and Mito would get lucky.

* * *

Her prediction came true the very next day and Mito, Fuu, and Matsuri found themselves perched on a secure tree branch that overlooked the bridge that was still in the process of being built, watching the figures on the bridge intently.

The aggravating thing Fuu found about being backup was that you had to wait before intervening on the others' behalf. Fuu was a full-frontal assault kind of girl.

The _mizubunshin_ that Zabuza had created were quickly slashed by Sasuke, returning them to their usual state of water.

"He's not very fast," Matsuri mused, frowning as she watched them. "Only a bit faster than an ordinary Genin."

"His stats in Taijutsu were fair," Mito conceded, having looked over all the Genin stats when the Hokage had asked her to file which teams had passed the exam and which had failed, "he has more skill in Ninjutsu."

"Is he still annoyed that you didn't want to train him?" Fuu snorted as Zabuza's companion, the boy in the Kiri Hunter-nin mask, clashed with Sasuke, forcing him away from Kakashi and Sakura who were guarding Tazuna.

"Of course," Mito replied, smirking. "You know I don't teach that technique to just anyone. The Tanuki Style is quite difficult to learn…oh, that's interesting."

The other two pairs of eyes followed hers to where she had watched the water form into ice mirrors around Sasuke, cutting him off from help by Sakura or Kakashi.

"Ice?" Matsuri frowned. "Is that a Kekkei Genkai?"

"It couldn't be anything else," Fuu had to agree with her there. "But the Hyouton died out, didn't it? After Yagura had all those containing bloodlines killed?"

"Maybe one of the Yuki Clan survived the purge," Mito contemplated, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Shouldn't they have brought along Naruto-san?" Matsuri asked apprehensively as Kakashi blocked a hit by Zabuza.

"Would you want one of your team members collapsing on the job?" Mito responded with a smirk which flickered out at the yell from inside the mirror dome.

"Should we try help now?" Fuu asked, pausing briefly as smoke filled the dome –what little they could see of it. "What was that?"

Mito groaned, catching a flash of blonde hair and an orange jacket. "That was my cousin…being foolish it seems, trying to save Uchiha-san when he's low on chakra…this isn't going to turn out well."

"But can we go and help now?" Fuu pressed. Sitting still was causing her to practically vibrate the tree branch with her nervous tension.

"No," Mito decided and Fuu and Matsuri groaned. "The whole point of shinobi is to watch and wait."

"I thought it was to kick ass," Fuu muttered under her breath as the mirrors glowed red with the heat of the Katon jutsu that had been Sasuke's idea no doubt.

There were several loud popping noises that generally followed the destruction of _Kagebunshin_.

"Exactly how much chakra does Naruto-san have?" Matsuri asked faintly. Of Mito's apprentices, the only ones with enough chakra to produce Kagebunshin were Ino and Fuu, though Fuu could definitely produce more than Ino, who had only ever managed one, and it had been very briefly. Mito wasn't sure why she even tried; she had barely enough chakra to form the _Kagebunshin_ to start with.

"About as much as me," Mito said, remarkably unconcerned, her eyes flickering towards Kakashi and Zabuza. Kakashi seemed to be fending off the Kiri-born nin's attacks quite well…but Kakashi could handle himself, Naruto and Sasuke were hardly out of the Academy with much less skills in the field, they would be the ones Team One would run to first.

But a sudden scream jarred all three of them as Zabuza tried to attack Sakura and Tazuna from behind, only to have his executioner's blade slash through his chest, splattering his blood onto the bridge, but it still wasn't damaging enough for the older shinobi.

The dome was silent and that was far more worrying as Kakashi used his own blood to summon forth his loyal ninken.

"That's a lot of dogs," Fuu said faintly, and she wasn't wrong. There were no fewer than eight canines of various sizes keeping a firm grip on him with their teeth.

A ripple was sent through the air originating from the dome, a ripple of building anger that caused Shukaku to stir within Mito.

" **Kurama is awakening,"** he said.

" _Kurama?"_ Mito thought back. _"Is that the Kyuubi's name?"_

Shukaku merely grunted in reply, his noises subsiding as they were hit with a blast of chakra, feeling the heat of it and seeing the red chakra flaring from within the icy dome.

"Is that Naruto?" Fuu demanded, her arm positioned protectively in front of her face, much like Matsuri was doing. "Did his seal break?"

"Seal—?" Matsuri's question was lost to the wind.

"No, I don't think so," Mito said, but something in her voice was off and both were clearly worried. "Some chakra must be leaking through, that's all."

Matsuri's eyes widened. The last time she'd felt chakra like now was back in Suna when Gaara-sama had lost control.

"He's a Jinchuuriki," she breathed in startled realization, but neither girl paid her much attention.

The heat of the chakra was affecting the texture of the ice mirrors, shortly following the sound of something shattering as the boy, Haku was thrown through one of the mirrors.

Naruto rushed forward as the remaining mirrors broke apart to thrust his fist at Haku's face only to stop short of hitting him.

The anger and the blood-thirst had abruptly faded.

"What happened?" Matsuri asked intently, glancing towards Fuu and Mito who appeared equally surprised by the turnout. "Why'd he stop?"

"I…have no idea," Mito said, stunned. There weren't many things that could bring a Jinchuuriki's mind back once they gave their Bijuu control; Mito and Fuu knew that from experience.

"Does he know him?" Fuu asked, blinking owlishly.

And then something Haku said made Naruto punch him.

"I'm going to assume not very well…"

Matsuri tugged on Fuu's arm. "I don't think Sasuke-san is moving."

"Eh? He's dead already?" Fuu blurted out tactlessly and Mito sighed.

"Don't be so crass, Fuu."

"What? It's not like we like him!"

Mito scowled at her. "And that's why you're going to make sure he's still alive," she said and the Taki-born nin grumbled under her breath before shooting off in the unmoving form.

"What about us?"

Mito considered the two groupings (three, if one counted Sakura and Tazuna). Kakashi's injuries, judging by the scent on the air, were deeper than Naruto's, who had no doubt made use of his advanced healing by the Kyuubi.

"Kakashi-san first," she decided, "he needs us more than Naruto does."

"Are you sure?" Matsuri asked apprehensively only to find herself fixed with a violet stare.

"Yes," Mito said in a clipped tone, "I'm sure." And with that said, she leapt off the tree to land several paces back from Kakashi, just barely made out through the mist, Matsuri following her after a few moments.

Zabuza was struggling briefly against the biting grip of Kakashi's ninken, but it seemed to be in vain as Kakashi clashed through his hand signs before clasping his arm as he collected chakra to it, the chakra becoming visible and crackling like the lightning.

Mito had never seen **Chidori (Lightning Blade** ) in action, but she had heard of its infamy, however seeing it was something entirely different. Raiton-based techniques had always interested Mito to the point of trying to implement it into her version of the Juuken's famous **Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven),** but it had never really stuck and Mito's elements were water and fire and earth, definitely not lightning.

Even Zabuza seemed startled by the sight of the technique.

"You're a loose cannon," Kakashi said slowly, "The man you're trying to kill, Tazuna-san, is the heart and spirit of this place, and the bridge you're trying to prevent him from completing is this land's hope…You're willing to sacrifice this place and everyone in it, just to advance your own ambitions. That's not what a shinobi does."

Zabuza's eyes, the only thing visible above the bandages that covered his lower face narrowed slightly as they flickered from Kakashi to Mito to Matsuri. He saw the same determination reflected in the three pairs of eyes.

"Spare me the civics lesson and philosophy," he scoffed darkly. "I'm fighting for my own ideals. And I'm not about to stop."

"The resilience of a Kiki one of the _Shinobigatana Shichini Shuu_ _(Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist),_ no doubt," Mito said coolly and he smirked in reply, making his bandages ripple.

Even if he was the enemy, there was no denying that there weren't many shinobi as skilled as he was.

"Give up," Kakashi requested as Zabuza spoke no more, "your future is death."

And then he moved, his movements so fast that even Mito could barely keep up with him, thrusting his fist forward to rip through Zabuza's chest, but not before someone intervened to take the hit.

Matsuri's eyes widened in shock as the blood sprayed, but Mito didn't even blink. The Hyouton (Ice Release) user, Haku had used himself as a human shield, and Kakashi's hand had gone right through him.

It was the first time Matsuri had seen blood since she'd killed the two Chuunin-level Missing-nin on their way. She could feel her own blood pulsating with her, but she didn't go into shock like she had before…and it wasn't as though she wasn't familiar with the presence of blood; she wouldn't've been a very good Medic-nin if she couldn't handle the sight of blood.

"You said my future was death…you missed again, Kakashi," Zabuza said with just a thread of amusement and Mito could swear she detected a thread of remorse on his face, but it quickly vanished.

The mist that had covered the bridge, leaving most without the ability to see (Kakashi and Naruto's figures had been little more of shadows until they got close), faded gradually away, exposing Fuu with her green-glowing hands on Sasuke, Sakura with her back to Tazuna, Naruto on his own, and Mito, Matsuri, Zabuza, Kakashi, and Haku in the center of the blood splatter.

Haku, the light fading from his eyes, raised his hands to grip at the arm that was still through his chest, but them all his movements stilled and his eyes dulled.

Zabuza launched forward, freed of Kakashi's ninken who had disappeared in a poof of smoke, their summons deactivating as he had attempted to kill Kakashi.

Sakura screamed her sensei's name, but it didn't seem to matter.

"I really did find a treasure in that gutter! To think that he'd grant me this marvelous end!" Zabuza laughed as he drew his blade from his back, slicing vertically into where Kakashi and Haku's shoulders would have been if the shinobi hadn't grabbed the boy and vaulted back.

But that didn't mean his blade hit nothing.

Matsuri blinked and she missed it and Sakura was gaping.

Mito had caught the blade between both her hands, a feat that would have been impossible if she hadn't had her hands coated with chakra. It was a skill she'd picked up from Komachi, and it certainly wasn't difficult to learn; Komachi had been able to catch a blade with her bare hands, without chakra, though.

" _What?!"_ Zabuza demanded.

"You…make me _sick_." Mito lifted her eyes to glare coldly at the shinobi. "Your own apprentice dies and you treat him like he's nothing?"

She thrust her leg forward into his chest, the force of the kick sending him flying backwards harshly against the bridge.

"Stay out of it, Naruto," Kakashi warned from behind her, "you too Matsuri."

Zabuza chuckled as he stood. "I always did wonder what made the Akai Senkou tick."

She didn't even blink. "You only know what I _permit you_ to know, Momochi Zabuza…I assure you, only one person in all the nations knows how exactly _I tick."_

Feet moved lightly across the ground, and Mito narrowly missed the slice aimed towards her head.

Kakashi had seriously damaged one of the swordsman's arms, leaving him with only one to either attack or defend and it seemed he was sticking with attacking. If Mito could cut off the use of his other arm then it would give her an upper hand.

She blinked at him blandly, ducking neatly around another strike. "And I'm wearing weights," she mused, watching his body for any reaction to her words (most shinobi had a problem with controlling their tempers, like Mito had once had).

Anger flashed in his eyes, swiping the Kubikiribouchou at her once more before she stabbed at his tenketsu in his arm, numbing at and blocking any chakra he might attempt to channel.

"I've pressed your tenketsu," Mito told him, "you won't be able to use any of your techniques, or even hold your grip on your sword."

He strained to do so, but the blade fell from his grip to collide solidly with the ground, leaving him glowering at the red-head, but the glare unfazed her. She had met far worse.

He spared Mito a chuckle. "You were better than I was told," he told her grudgingly.

Mito shrugged carelessly. "You had wasted a lot of energy and chakra before," she gave him credit.

"Well, you've certainly made a mess of yourself, Zabuza," a grating voice called from the opposite end of the bridge and several pairs of eyes fastened on those that had gathered there.

They seemed to be made up of an assortment of mercenaries and assassins with a man in a suit with an arm encased in a thick cast at the head of the grouping looking a bit apart from his companions.

This, Mito resumed, was Gatou.

"Gatou," Zabuza said darkly, his numbed arms swinging as he turned towards his employer, "why are you here…and why'd you bring all of them?"

Gatou chuckled but it seemed more like a low-pitched giggle. "We had a little change in plans," he said, tapping his cane against the bridge, "I'm sorry, Zabuza, but you're going to die here."

Mito turned to look at Kakashi with an expression he could easily decipher and he replied with a similar grim one.

 _Double-cross_ , she sent to him in the ANBU sign language. _Still enemy?_

 _Wait_ , Kakashi sent back and Mito nodded in understanding.

Beyond them, Naruto and Matsuri looked on in confusion, neither familiar with the hand signs or the understanding that had passed between their respective sensei.

"If I rent official shinobi, it would cost a lot of money," Gatou laughed. "So I rented exiled shinobi like you. If you shinobi had killed each other, it would have saved me trouble and money…And you call yourself the _Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist)_? You're no demon, if you ask me! Just a baby demon, if anything!"

The laughter of the renegades behind him was loud and guttural and more than slightly annoying to Mito's ears.

"The battle ends here, Senkou," Zabuza said, his voice so low that only those closet could hear it, "Since I don't have any reason to kill Tazuna, I have lost the reason to fight you."

"Until next time," Mito said, her lips twisting slightly only to turn downward as Gatou moved forward to where Kakashi had laid Haku's corpse after avoiding the strike from Zabuza, nudging the boy's head with his foot.

"You crushed my arm until you almost broke my arm," Gatou sneered before kicking viciously at his face. "Serves you right, carrion!"

" _Bastard!"_ Naruto yelled behind her and she could just imagine how his face drew tight and fury filled his eyes. "What the hell are you doing?!"

He ran forward only to be abruptly stopped by his sensei pulling him back and keeping a tight grip on his sensei's son.

"Naruto, stop," he warned, "there's too many of them."

That was a gross overstatement, Mito thought as she tilted her head to the side, her neck cracking. She could take them with some assistance from Kakashi.

"Why don't you say something!" Naruto yelled instead towards Zabuza, as his efforts had been ceased and he needed to get a rise out of someone. "He was on your side! He worked for you! He was devoted to you!"

"Shut up, kid," Zabuza said dully. "Haku is already dead."

Mito chanced a look back to her distant cousin. Naruto's fists were clenched so tightly that they were vibrating with tension and his teeth were gritted.

"And you still don't feel anything?" Naruto snapped. "The two of you were together a long time, weren't you?"

"Gatou's been using me the way I used Haku," Zabuza intoned, his face still forward. "Weren't you listening? It's a shinobi's lot. All of us are either users or tools…or both. I didn't value Haku for himself, but for the taint his blood carried…and for what his talents could do for me. I apologize for nothing."

"You're lying."

The words came from Matsuri whose eyes were hidden under her loose hanging fringe, but she had bit her lip so much that it had bled. And then she looked up, her dark eyes blazing with heat; Mito couldn't help but be impressed by just how forward her usually much quieter apprentice was.

"If you took the time to train him and hone his skills as a shinobi and give him food and clothes and a constant companion…you did value him for who he was," Matsuri said solemnly.

"And he really cared about you!" Naruto added onto Matsuri's words, still incensed by the lack of reaction. "He was devoted to you! _He gave his life up for you!"_ Mito doubted he realized that angry tears had begun to fall down his whiskered cheeks. "He couldn't even see his own dream. Dying as a tool is just…" Naruto bowed his head, his throat clogging slightly, "just too _cruel."_

Kakashi's eyes flitted towards Mito whose face had grown somber, knowing the feeling Naruto was describing well, but neither of the former ANBU spoke of it.

"Kid," Zabuza said suddenly, and Mito found herself slightly surprised by how his voice faded in and out as he tried to give it strength. "Not…another… _word."_

"What Haku did…was not just for me," Zabuza said, disregarding the tears that had graced his face and that had stunned Naruto into silence. "While we fought, he broke his heart…over you…and your friends, that's the truth. He was too kind, too gentle…I'm glad my last battle was against you, boy, because you're right."

"Huh?" Naruto couldn't help but blurt, scrubbing at his face even if it turned his face slightly red and raw.

"Say what we will, do what we will…in the end we shinobi are still just people with feelings all too human. And I've lost…everything."

He ripped the bindings around his face with his teeth, exposing his sharpened teeth that the other members of the _Shinobigatana Shichini Shuu_ shared.

"Hey, kid," Zabuza breathed, "toss me your kunai?"

"Uh-sure," Naruto said quickly, pulling his last one from his holster and throwing it loosely for the Missing-nin to catch it easily in his mouth and then he was rushing forward straight towards the group of mercenaries and Gatou. It was over faster than Mito would have thought possible.

* * *

"You should be asleep," Mito murmured as she stepped into Tsunami's kitchen with her happuri in place on her forehead and her bag strapped to her back.

"Couldn't sleep," Naruto murmured from where he was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of tea that had gone cold.

Mito looked over him with a sigh. "Naruto, you kept Tazuna safe and Uchiha Sasuke is still alive and healing with Kakashi-san—"

"But Haku and Zabuza aren't."

Mito dropped her bag to the floor silently as she sat down opposite him, her red-gem necklace glittering in the light.

"Sometimes even when we win she lose," she told him quietly, "but that was the outcome Zabuza wanted."

"Could you have healed him?" Naruto pressed.

"I could have," Mito said, her eyes unwavering as they met his. "But he asked me not to."

Naruto fell silent. "Do you think he was a bad guy?" he asked her.

Mito pursed her lips. "You are asking the opinion of the shinobi who was once the apprentice of the Missing-nin who killed her apprentice's grandfather, I'm hardly the best person to judge others."

But Naruto had always cared about her opinion and he didn't relent.

"I think that for bad guys…they were quite good," she decided.

"Good," Naruto said in relief, "I thought so too."

Her lips quirked into a smile before fading slightly. "Naruto…be careful with your seal, won't you?"

Naruto grimaced.

"Not many would know what it was coming from you," Mito continued quietly, "but Jinchuuriki always have it harder than anyone else…the Kyuubi has an unruly spirit…or so I've been told."

Naruto clenched his hands.

"Fuu might know a thing or two that might help," Mito offered, "she used to be the Jinchuuriki of the Nanabi."

Naruto started at this information. The only Jinchuuriki he had been aware of were Gaara ('Crazy' as Mito referred to him bluntly) and Mito, the twin Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi, but, of course, Mito had been written off as a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki, a person who contained the chakra of one of the Bijuu but was not one themselves. Naruto thought Mito liked it that way; the less people that knew about her, the better.

"She _used_ to be?" Naruto asked flummoxed. "She's not anymore?"

"Her Bijuu was ripped from her," Mito said, narrowing her eyes, "it killed her instantly…it took a great deal of effort to revive her."

Naruto's eyes widened so much they were threatening to bulge out of his skull. Well, if there was one thing Mito did for him it was that she didn't sugar-coat things.

"Look after yourself while I'm gone."

"Where're you going, Mito-chan?" Naruto asked as she grasped her bag once more.

"To Kumo," Mito said shortly, "the Raikage is expecting me and I don't want to keep him waiting."

She lifted the necklace from her throat to place it over his.

"What's this for?" he asked.

"A loan, I want it back," Mito warned, "it's a seal of sorts…it may help."

Naruto cradled the red gem in his hands; it didn't seem like much of a seal, and Naruto had seen seals.

He barely had time to wish her good luck before she was out the door.


	18. The Calm Before the Storm

"I heard that you can barely see her move before she cuts your head off!"

"No, I heard it was the only sign of her kills is a pool of blood on the ground!"

Karui and Omoi shivered as their third teammate, Samui, looked on impassively. The rumors of a joint mission between Kumo and Konoha that had been assumed to be merely rumors were now proven to be true and it was said that the Konoha shinobi that would be joining Nii Yugito on the mission was Senju Mito, notoriously known as the Akai Senkou.

Omoi and Karui were terrified. With a kill count as high as hers and being placed in the Bingo Book, what was going to stop her from killing them? This was mostly Omoi's worry, since he had a habit of throwing things out of proportion.

"I'm sure if Raikage-sama thought she was that much of threat that he wouldn't have requested her for the joint mission," Samui said smoothly and her dark-skinned teammates looked to her briefly when the sound of the voice of the shinobi at the village entrance cut off their words.

"Welcome, Senju-sama, Ay-sama asked that you be taken to his office immediately."

"That's fine," a young voice replied, "I understand he'd like this dealt with swiftly. Hokage-sama wants much the same."

Three heads peered around the corner to look on the famed Akai Senkou only to find that Senju Mito looked remarkably ordinary.

Wild red hair was held at bay by a happuri and her violet eyes were calm and earnest, much like the shade of blue of her shinobi pants and shirt. And they could tell she was serious with the arm and shin guards she wore.

Was that…Senju Mito?

"I can take her there, Jimei," Amai said and the Chuunin nodded, stepping aside after confirming Mito's papers.

"Are there any good teams Kumo is sending to the exams?" Mito asked him. "Most of the Genin I know aren't much of challenge."

"I'm sure you'll just have to wait and see," Amai told her with a laugh and Omoi and Karui's eyes bugged out slightly at just how casual Amai –medic-nin and kindly Amai– could be standing next to someone who could cause shinobi to scamper at the mere sight of her mask.

"I suppose I will," Mito sighed dejectedly. "And this might be my last mission before the Chuunin Exams; Hokage-sama will have me back on as his assistant…doing Sensei's job for him."

Amai arched an eyebrow at her, but he didn't comment on her relationship with her sensei, who he didn't know and had no way of knowing that the man was the Jounin Commander of Konoha. If he did, he might have wondered why exactly she was doing his job for him, but she wasn't technically doing his job, though she certainly did work longer hours than him.

"Fuu and Matsuri have to complete two more C-ranks before we're eligible, but I'm sure they'll be done by the time the exams roll around," Mito said, "I'm sure I'll run them into the ground at least once more before then."

"You are too kind," Amai drawled and her lips twisted upwards.

And then she turned to glance towards where Samui's team was watching her, having noticed their attention even before they'd come close to passing them by.

Omoi crumpled to the ground in a dead faint whilst Karui's face went bloodless, paling her complexion rather noticeably.

One of Mito's eyebrows rose at that. "I think one of those Genin fainted."

A sweatdrop formed on Amai's head as he looked on to Killer Bee's three students. They were good kids, if a bit over enthusiastic –barring Samui who was remarkably coolheaded in the face of anything–, but he had a good idea as to what could illicit such a response.

"Omoi has a weak stomach."

She gave him a dubious look.

"Your reputation precedes you," he informed her dryly.

"Ah," Mito said in understanding, a small grimace forming on her lips.

And she said nothing more as they made their way up into the room that held the Raikage who had no doubt been waiting for them to arrive for days now.

He hadn't changed much since Mito had last seen him; he was still as massive as before, his pale hair smoothed back, and his squared jaw set stiffly.

"Raikage-sama," Mito said smoothly, giving an effortless bow to the older and far more powerful man. "I am honored to be of assistance to you to bridge the difficulties between our nations."

She gave no mention of the true nature to her return.

"I expect you to be as efficient as you are said to be," Ay said, his eyes gaining a steely glint.

"It will be done at post haste, I assure you," she said simply.

He flicked his fingers and the silent protection his ANBU members offered him had disappeared, no doubt to take up residence outside the doors.

Ay gestured her forward. "Be quick about it," he grunted.

"Of course," Mito said without blinking, her hands already glowing with green chakra as she moved forward to press them against the Kage's chest. She closed her eyes, sending her chakra into his body, searching for any abnormalities that would have indicated the Bakuretsuchuu returning; thankfully, she found none.

She removed her hands a few moments later.

"You're in the clear," she said with a smile, "I suggest a slow increase to your usual training exercises, which I'm sure are quite extensive. Increase it steadily every two weeks and you should be fine."

"Thank you," he said, surprising her greatly; the Raikage was certainly not one for being verbal of how appreciative he was of other's efforts on his behalf, certainly not ones from Konoha, this much Mito knew quite well.

"It's nothing," she said, slightly amused, "after all, this never really happened, did it?"

Secrecy was a funny thing.

* * *

The mission was made to be exceptionally difficult, Mito had to agree as she was briefed alongside her companion, Nii Yugito. The woman was in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair and dark eyes and was fairly tall compared to Mito at thirteen. She certainly seemed quite capable to doing the mission on her own.

The mission concerned several Missing-nin from Iwa and a few from Kusa that had taken to attempting to cut off the incoming supplies to Kumo.

The Raikage had deployed several shinobi already, but none had been successful, and it would be a perfect opportunity to build a small bridge between Konoha and Kumo since the incident with the Hyuuga Clan.

"The shinobi will be using land-based techniques," Yugito said once the briefing had completed and she finally looked upon Mito, her eyes as flat as Mito's on with a 'let's get this over with stare'. "Katon and Douton, specifically…I suspect that is why you were chosen, with your strength and speed." Her Suiton would be no help to her here; Douton was strong against Suiton.

Mito inclined her head slightly. "My Futton Style will make for a difficult obstacle as well," she said.

"You approve of the strategy, then?" Yugito asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Not many like to be a decoy." It would be Mito's job to be the distraction while Yugito attacked from behind.

Mito shrugged. "I can take care of myself. I've been a decoy a few times; it's not so bad."

Yugito looked at her oddly; Senju Mito was a strange girl.

But Mito didn't notice, her thoughts turning inwards to the tanuki seemingly slumbering in his cage, but she knew that wasn't the case.

" _Hey, Shukaku, up for a challenge?"_

The Ichibi grunted. **"This better be good, Senju. You're almost as boring as your twin."**

Mito smiled internally at that, and then she followed Yugito out of the room before parting with her, racing off into the trees along the path between mountains, Yugito taking a separate path and being far stealthier in her efforts than Mito.

Stone crunched under her sandals as she tore ahead at her typical speed, the wind whipping her hair across her face.

Her eyes flicked to the side, sensing the enemy more than seeing them as she forced her breath to become labored. She was, after all, a Genin, and certainly looked the part, and going at the speed she was would have tired an ordinary Genin out quite early on.

Mito closed her eyes briefly before opening them once more, the dark rings around her eyes thickening and the violet color changing to gold and black, becoming the eyes of Shukaku.

" **Douton: Doryuusou (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)!"** a voice uttered to her left and Mito flipped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the spears of stone that jutted suddenly from the earth.

There were two in her way, both of Iwa, it was clear to see.

"This road is off limits," the one on the left, a woman with short dark hair said, regarding her coolly, and taking in Mito's Konoha hitai-ate with disdain. "Especially to shinobi of Konoha."

"Your _kind_ isn't welcome here," her companion added, his brown hair falling over one of his eyes.

Mito gave a disarming smile. "Sorry, but I need to pass, important missions to complete."

The woman snorted, falling into a crouch. "You're welcome to die trying."

She startled them by laughing as she tightened her hand into a fist. "Oh, it's been awhile since someone's brought me close to dying."

Her chakra focused tightly into the center of her fist before she thrust it down against the ground. The earth cracked upon impact, causing her enemies to stumble and fall back.

"What the—?" The man grunted, skidding. "How the hell does a _Genin_ have that kind of power?"

" **Douton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"** The woman cried, ignoring her partner as she formed the necessary seals to cause Mito to begin to sink into a large pool of mud. "Have fun getting out of that one!"

Mito smirked, her hands pressing together as she gathered her chakra, the blue spinning out around her and enveloping her in a cocoon as she took a step forward slowly and then another.

"Who is this girl?" The woman demanded. "No one just walks through my Underworld Swamp!"

"My name is Mito," Mito informed them as she climbed back onto solid ground, mad staining her from her waist down. "And I'm just a Genin."

"That's unlikely," the male said.

Yugito had dealt with her opponents quite quickly whilst they had been distracted by the commotion Mito had caused with punching the ground only a few moments earlier, and now she was watching her companion's battle intently from a tree not too far away with veiled interest.

Senju Mito was holding up fairly well as the two Iwa Missing-nin who had begun to strike at her in hand-to-hand, but they seemed to be evenly matched when the woman, Yamatatsu Chouko, managed to throw a punch across Mito's face sending her flying.

Mito spit blood as she pulled herself up, swiping red across her cheek, still grinning as her opponent began to scream, clutching at her hand and falling to her knees.

Yugito couldn't see what had happened, but she could smell the scent of burnt flesh. That must have been Mito's Futton that was affecting the woman so terribly. She must have laced her skin with it… _very clever._

"The thing about the Senju is we always cover our bases," Mito said mildly before throwing a punch against the male partner's chest, sending him rocketing into a tree, where he crumpled.

She looked suddenly towards where Yugito was perched and the older shinobi started at the sight of her eyes. Those weren't human.

Matatabi stirred restlessly within her. **"Shukaku,"** she whispered.

But that wasn't right. Sabaku no Gaara in Suna was rather well known for his status as the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi.

So what exactly was Senju Mito?

* * *

"This is the list of teams Raikage-sama is planning on sending," Mito said a few days later once she was standing in front of the Hokage once more. Mud still caked her pants, but the bruise she'd gained for her efforts was long since gone.

She wasn't quite sure why it was ranked at an A, though she suspected Nii Yugito got the more difficult of the opponents, but she couldn't really complain.

"A job well done," Hiruzen said, sparing her a smile. "Your apprentices are currently on their second C-rank, joining Team Eight and they won't be back for a few days, but why don't you take today off?"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Mito said, bowing her head slightly before turning on her heel and exiting the room.

She expelled a sigh and stretched her arms high above her head, getting rid of the kinks that had developed over her run home.

The Iwa Missing-nin hadn't seemed like much of a challenge, much to her disappoint, but there was a possibility that they weren't a B-rank, which was what she was considered to be, so that might have had something to do with it.

Shukaku grumbled with her stomach and Mito grinned; Shukaku might have had something to do with it as well.

But a day off would be nice and Mito wouldn't mind wearing something that wasn't sweaty or covered in mud.

She took her leisure time on her way home, passing by Yamanaka Flowers as she did so, only stopping when Ino yelled after her.

"Hey!" she said, grinning widely at her. "You're back already!"

"It wasn't much of a mission," Mito conceded with a shrug. "What about you? I heard you went on a C-rank of your own. How did that go?"

"Actually, we just finished our second one yesterday," Ino said proudly. "But nothing much happened, unfortunately. We had a few bandits try to take us on, we showed them the power of Ino-Shika-Chou!"

Ino pumped her fist with enthusiasm. "Tou-san was really impressed and he's going to teach me a few more techniques before the Chuunin Exams."

"That's always good," Mito laughed, "who doesn't love a shinobi with a few tricks up her sleeve?"

"Exactly," Ino said, giving her friend a rather significant wink. "Got anything new to teach me?"

"Possibly," Mito said, scrutinizing her apprentice with narrowed eyes. "Depending on how busy you are once Fuu and Matsuri get back."

Ino's eyes gleamed and Mito's eyes drifted to the state of her clothes. The cloth was frayed and worn from the training she had been undergoing for the past few months and Mito suspected that she'd need something new before long; she doubted Ino would be averse to that.

"Oh, and stop by around lunch, would you?" she added. "I've got something for you."

Mito blinked, looking at her oddly. "Something…? What?"

"It's a secret," Ino sang.

The red-haired shinobi arched an eyebrow at that, but she said nothing other than giving a wave of farewell as she headed on towards the Senju compound, the silence within a bit strange to her.

Fuu and Matsuri made a bit of noise, so it was strange to be there when it was quiet. Mito didn't really like it, but she supposed that must have been what it was like to live in the Uchiha District as the only Uchiha.

A slight scowl marred Mito's lips as she thought about her mother and then she shook her head, quickly forgetting about her as she grabbed her casual clothes for when she was in the village.

The shower was refreshing, to say the least, and it was nice to be free of the mud and grime, but still she worried. Nii Yugito had seen her eyes when she was using the boost that Shukaku's chakra gave her (though she probably hadn't really needed it, it certainly worked as a scare factor), but even if she guessed what Mito was, it was doubtful that she would come to the conclusion that she was a true Jinchuuriki, especially if she spoke with Killer Bee who had referred to her as a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki. Hopefully, she was in the clear.

After all, there had never really been two Jinchuuriki of one Bijuu.

Mito stepped out of the shower, ruffling her hair as she did so and looking in the mirror. She had never really realized how thick the dark lines around her eyes were, but they were still slightly thinner than they had been when she'd channeled Shukaku's chakra.

She twisted the ring made of sand around her finger pensively before she pulled her green haori up and over her shoulders.

Her shogi board lay carelessly on the engawa from the last game she'd had with Shikamaru which seemed so long ago now. It had taken positively an age, but Mito had actually won that time around. She hadn't been able to help lording it over Shikamaru, who had merely scoffed and muttered something about her being a troublesome woman.

Maybe she'd see if Shikamaru wanted to go cloud-watching after she saw to what Ino had for her at her family's flower shop.

Mito checked the time and it was indeed nearly lunch, so she headed off in the direction of Yamanaka Flowers with her hands in her pockets.

She was pleasantly surprised to see Shikamaru waiting there for her, twisting the stem of a simple purple freesia.

"Shikamaru-kun!"

Perhaps she was a bit overenthusiastic as she threw her arms around his neck and he struggled to keep them both upright.

"Geez, woman," he complained, "are you trying to kill me?"

"I'd be more subtle," Mito said with a grin and Shikamaru very much doubted that. This was after all the ex-ANBU member that had made a name for herself in decapitations. "Why d'you have a flower?"

Shikamaru became just a bit flustered as he shoved it towards her. "It's for you."

Mito blinked in surprise; she couldn't remember a time when Shikamaru had ever gotten her a flower before. And she certainly hadn't been expecting it to be her favorite in the color of her eyes.

She took it and kissed one of his pink cheeks. "Thanks."

Shikamaru grumbled something under her breath and her grin widened.

"Let's go cloud-gazing?" she suggested and she had never seen him look so relieved; she suspected Ino was the one behind it all, no doubt trying to get them to be more romantic, as it irked her endlessly.

His lips twisted and he smiled. "I know the best spot."

He grasped her hand and pulled her through the crowd and Mito found she couldn't keep the dizzying smile off her face.

Maybe they weren't romantic like Ino was, but they both preferred it better that way.

* * *

As it so happened, Ino and Fuu and Matsuri's paths didn't cross again until a few days prior to the start of the Chuunin Exams.

Mito had been so busy she hadn't seen much of her friends, but she still new the gist of what was going on with them. Naruto was still fighting Sasuke, even if they had a somewhat tentative friendship after the events of Nami no Kuni. Hinata was doing quite well with her teammates, honing her skills with Kiba and Shino as a tracker. Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were working effortlessly as a unit, even if Ino always found something to complain about.

"Alright, listen up," Mito said once she'd gathered them around (Hinata had declined to spend more time on perfecting her Juuken, which was fine with Mito; all the power to her). "I'm going to tell you about a technique, but I'm not expecting you to learn it, especially not before the Chuunin Exams, it can be incredibly exhausting, especially if you don't have as much chakra as me."

The three were listening raptly.

"It's called **Souzou Saisei (Creation Rebirth),** and it's the only S-rank jutsu I know," Mito said grudgingly, "and it works by storing part of your everyday chakra use at a specific part of your body…my mother and I use the center of our forehead." She jerked her thumb towards the violet diamond that lay there. "The amount of chakra it can take is the amount that is usually stored over the course of three years, but since I have a bit more it took a shorter amount of time."

"Lucky you," Fuu said, no doubt feeling annoyed by the fact she was Bijuu-less; things got a little boring without Choumei around.

Matsuri giggled and Ino sniggered, but Mito ignored her for the most part.

"The jutsu only works once the seal has been released and it can regenerate any injury by rapidly creating new cells through increased cell division. Maintaining the kind of chakra infusion for it can be tiring," Mito continued, "that's why I suggest if you do want to attempt it, not to try it until the Chuunin Exams are concluded."

She waited until they all murmured in agreement before continuing on.

"You must first master **Souzou Saisei (Creation Rebirth)** before **Ninpou Souzou Saisei: Byakugou no Jutsu (Ninja Art Creation Rebirth: Strength of a Hundred Technique)** which is remarkably similar to its parent jutsu except that its effect is continuous," Mito explained.

"Is there a catch," Matsuri asked suddenly, "I mean, the releasing that much chakra to repair ourselves and others…aren't there negative effects?"

"Overusing the technique will shorten your lifespan."

Ino blinked in surprise and Fuu shifted uneasily whilst Matsuri swallowed thickly.

"That is why this technique is only meant to be used in extreme circumstances and can only be used once every three years once you've stored up enough chakra," Mito said easily, remarkably unperturbed by the information she was giving them. "Weigh the costs and the benefits if you like, but while you do that, I've got to get back to work if I want to be off in time to get some new shinobi gear with you three."

"We're getting new gear?" Fuu asked in excitement as Ino threw up her hands in enthusiasm.

"Yes!" she cried. "New gear! At long last!"

Mito released a short laugh before gathering up a few scrolls and clipboards, giving them one last gave farewell before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Suna a young boy with red hair as bright as his sister's watched the sand dunes through impassive eyes.

The Chuunin Exams…she would be there, he knew it. He could sense her. How could she not be? It was her village, after all.

Her face was imprinted in his mind from the last time she had stepped foot in Suna, her violet eyes as bright as her smile.

Gaara didn't like it, he didn't like it when she smiled. It made his head hurt from his memories that he stubbornly pushed down.

He would kill her it if was what Mother desired, and he always gave Mother the blood she asked for.

Whether or not they had shared a womb mattered little to him. Whether or not a fair amount of blood stained both their hands mattered little to him. Whether or not she was as dangerous matter little to him.

The only blood tie he shared with Senju Mito was the one he wanted to wrap around her neck and strangle her with.


	19. The Written Exam

As it turned out, the only ones that went through a complete outfit change were Ino and Matsuri, as Fuu preferred the white garb she'd been dressing in, as mid-riff revealing as it was, but Mito had been forced into a lighter blue loose kimono-like shirt with sleeves that went to her elbows with Ino citing that her typical blue was too boring.

Ino looked pretty kick-ass, though, if you asked Mito. She appeared to be rather attached to the color purple, but it didn't seem to matter now. She now wore a kimono-styled top that was a combination of dark and light purple that was snug around her chest and loose around her waist where she wore shinobi pants that cut off just under her knees. New arm and shin guards graced her exposed forearms and legs over fishnets.

She looked ready to kick you into a tree or heal your injuries, depending on her mood.

"Shishou, do I look like a serious shinobi?"

Mito looked up, startled by the line of questioning to see what her youngest apprentice was wearing.

Matsuri was wearing a mesh shirt similar to what most of the younger Genin wore under a dull red shirt with a black skirt with slits on both sides for movement with fishnet shorts, keeping her long black stockings and thick arm-guards.

"I'd take you seriously," Mito told her and Matsuri positively beamed.

* * *

"Within two days, we will begin the Chuunin Selection Exam," the Hokage began the meeting, "now that we are going to start the Chuunin Selection Exam, those who are in charge of new Genin, please step forward."

Nara Shikaku, Hatake Kakashi, Yuuhi Kurenai, and Sarutobi Asuma stepped forward.

"Are there any Genin you wish to enter into the exam among the ones you teach?" Hiruzen asked. "Only those Genin with more than eight completed missions are allowed to compete in the Chuunin Exam with your recommendation. But normally those who have completed twice that amount are more suited…Let's start with Shikaku-san."

Shikaku took a step forward, looking as lazy as ever, but he still held his fingers into the standard sign as he spoke.

"Team One," he intoned, "consists of Senju Mito, Fuu, and Matsuri. I vow upon my clan, the Nara, that they are all ready for the exam."

"First all Medic-nin team ever," someone murmured behind him, "that'll be interesting to watch."

"But none of them are native-born."

He ignored that.

"Team Seven," Kakashi continued when Shikaku had finished, "consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura. I vow upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake, that all three are ready for the Chuunin Exam."

There was a sharp intake of breath behind them following a low _"What?"_

"Team Eight," Kurenai said, "consists of Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata. I vow upon my own clan, the Yuuhi, that I am as certain as are my esteemed colleagues that all three are ready for the Chuunin Exam."

"Team Ten," Asuma said finally, "consists of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. I vow upon my clan, the Sarutobi, that I am equally as certain that all three are ready for the Chuunin Exam."

Shikaku's eyes shifted to the open window where an eyeball could be seen hovering in the air before quickly dispersing into dark sand and vanishing. A small smirk graced his lips.

Matsuri had been working on her control over her Jiton over the past few months quite tirelessly and he was certain that it had paid off. He had seen Mito use a similar technique only by gathering water particles from the air and condensing it; it seemed to be far more difficult to use water as a medium than sand.

Leaning against a building not too far away, Matsuri opened her eyes and grinned. "We've been nominated; I guess the paperwork made it through."

"Of course it did," Fuu scoffed, her hands on her hips, "Mito delivered it specially."

Mito rolled her eyes for good measure, going over the clipboard in her arms. The last Kiri Genin team had signed in, as that last almost everyone who'd been sent for the exams, except Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari…they were spectacularly late, if you asked Mito. That wasn't like them…

"You're a disgrace to our entire village," a cold voice said off the path to their right and three heads turned to look upon the scene. Sasuke sitting on one tree branch, Sakura standing beside Moegi and Udon (two of Konohamaru's friends who idolized Naruto for some strange reason), Konohamaru beside Naruto who was looking a bit miffed and annoyed, Gaara hanging upside-down from an opposite tree branch, Kankurou rubbing his wrist, and Temari looking anxious as she always did when Gaara was concerned.

Gaara disappeared in Shunshin of sand only to reappear in front of his brother and sister.

"I hope you're not fighting with the locals," Mito said mildly as she stepped forward. "That'd get you disqualified before the exam even starts."

" _Mito!"_ Temari couldn't help but smile in relief at the sight of her younger sister.

"Mito-nee-chan!" Konohamaru cried, abandoning Naruto to run to her side. The ' _nee-chan'_ had been tacked on after a fairly tedious mission the Hokage had sent her on, that hadn't really counted as a mission if you asked her, to find his grandson.

"Konohamaru," she said, ruffling his hair with narrowed eyes, "have you been causing trouble?"

The Academy student shook his head quickly.

Mito's eyes narrowed further and Fuu snorted behind her as Konohamaru finally nodded his head and she gave him a look.

"Sorry," he muttered to Kankurou who looked mystified.

"Now, you," Mito said, pointing at her older brother.

"What? _Me?_ I didn't do anything wrong!" Kankurou proclaimed.

"That's likely," Mito drawled, "do you want me to tell the Hokage you've been manhandling his grandson?"

Sakura grimaced in surprise beyond them; good thing she hadn't attacked him like she'd planned on doing. Imagine how angry the Hokage would have been.

"Sorry," Kankurou grunted before giving his sister a gimlet stare. "Happy?"

"Exceptionally," Mito said, smiling blindingly. "Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, run along."

The three children were gone faster than anyone could have blinked.

"You're late," she added, "A few more hours and I would've had to remove your names from the roster, Nii-san."

Sasuke's eyes flickered between Mito and Gaara. The resemblance was startling and clear to be seen with just the red hair alone, but her stance was similar to the girl, and the way she'd clench her hands when things annoyed her had clearly come from the darkly-garbed boy.

" _Haha,"_ Kankurou drawled, "can't you just say you missed us like a normal person?"

"That would be making it easy," Mito laughed.

"Wait, they're foreign shinobi," Sakura said suddenly, "how'd they get past the main gates?"

"How d'you think?" Temari rolled her eyes. "We showed them our IDs and they let us walk past."

"For the Chuunin Exams," Naruto added helpfully.

"How do you know about that?" Sasuke asked him in disdain and the blonde scowled.

"I know things too-ttebayo!"

"Were they nominated?" Mito asked Matsuri, looking her in the eye.

"Kakashi-san nominated them," Matsuri said, "along with Kurenai-san, and Asuma-san."

Mito turned to face Team Seven once more. "I'm sure your sensei will be bringing it up sooner or later." She gave a two-fingered salute. "Later."

And then she gestured for her siblings to follow after her, taking note of how focused on her Gaara's gaze was, and not in a very good way.

"We'll go off and train," Fuu said, grabbing Matsuri's arm and dragging her into the crowd.

"Your other teammate?" Temari questioned, looking after the white-clothed shinobi.

"Fuu," Mito supplied, "formerly of Taki, very outspoken."

Then she grinned. "So, miss me much?"

Her older brother and sister laughed, though Gaara maintained his silence.

* * *

Why did Kakashi-sensei have to make everything seem like a trick? Naruto was grumbling as Kakashi revealed that the Chuunin Exams were completed in teams of three and that if even one didn't come they all wouldn't be allowed to compete.

Then they'd entered the room and been taken by complete surprise at the sheer amount of Genin that were taking the exam.

Mito was sitting on a distant table with her eyes closed, maybe meditating, maybe sleeping, who really knew with Shikaku for a sensei. Matsuri and Fuu were sitting on either side of her with a perpetually bored expression on their faces. Mito's siblings weren't too far away from them, but the recently graduated Konoha Genin were all clustered near the door, making it easy for Ino –deceptive and clearly faking Ino– to throw her arms around Sasuke and proclaim how glad she was to see him.

Naruto grimaced, wincing at the noise she was making.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, settling himself into a deeper slouch against the wall. "Does she always have to be so loud?"

"She's Ino," Chouji said as if it counted as an answer, which it kind of did, but then Naruto wasn't listening.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" he called, his eyes brightening as he saw his best friend, whom he hadn't seen much over the past few weeks.

Hinata smiled, her cheeks flushing bright pink as he practically raced to her side only to become sidetracked in an argument with Kiba.

"Poor Hinata," Chouji said around his chips, "he has no idea."

"That's what you get for crushing on someone who's that dense," Shikamaru said shrugging his shoulders. Naruto wasn't stupid, but he was very blind about certain matters.

"Would you guys do us all a favor and be a bit quieter?" someone commented behind them and all the eyes turned towards the speaker. It was a Konoha shinobi with grey hair that contrasted with his young face. Round glasses were perched on his nose and he wore a dark purple shinobi outfit. "You're the nine rookies that just graduated from the Academy, right? You're all fooling around with those cute faces…geez, this isn't a fieldtrip."

"And who're you?" Ino demanded, still holding her façade.

"My name's Yakushi Kabuto," the boy said, his glasses glinting white as the sunlight caught them briefly. "And look around you…"

They did as was suggested only to discover they were on the receiving end of a few impressive glared from the shinobi gathered around them. Kusa seemed to be glaring more at Mito and Naruto remembered how much she didn't like Kusa.

"The ones behind you are from Amegakure. They have a short temper," Kabuto said, nodding towards a few in question. "Everyone's tense, waiting for the exam. I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you."

"Oh," Sakura said weakly, swallowing thickly.

"I guess it can't be helped though, since you are just rookies who don't know anything. I remember what it was like."

Shino's eyes narrowed slightly behind his shades at how he worded his sentence, but he uttered no words of his own.

"Kabuto-san," Sakura said slowly, "are you saying this is the second time you've applied?"

"Oh, no," the older Genin released a slight laugh that sounded fake to Ino's ears. "Not second, seventh. Twice a year for going on four years."

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose in surprise; _was the test really that hard?_

"Then you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect," Sakura said with noticeable relief.

"So, you must be an expert, Kabuto-san," Naruto added, grinning widely as he stretched his arms behind his head to cup his neck.

"He still hasn't passed it," Shikamaru pointed out and a dawning expression overtook Naruto's face. Shikamaru sighed loudly.

Kabuto gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, that's true…but maybe I should give my green underclassmen some information…" He reached into his pouch to withdraw a few orange cards bearing the kanji for shinobi. "With these recognition cards."

Kabuto explained the process of channeling his chakra to expose certain types of information, such as the statistics of the Genin performing in the Chuunin Exams based on their respective villages.

"Are there any cards that have detailed personal information?" Sasuke asked suddenly and Kiba could guess where he was going with that line of questioning.

"Yes," Kabuto said, a small smirk appearing. "Is there someone that interests you?"

"Gaara from Suna, and Rock Lee and Senju Mito from Konoha."

Naruto glanced towards where Mito was sitting, her eyes still shut, but he knew all too well of her exceptional hearing; there wasn't any way that she didn't know that Sasuke wanted information about her.

"Oh, you know their names," Kabuto chuckled, "it won't take time at all."

He swiped one card off the top of his deck, channeling his chakra until Rock Lee's face appeared beside his statistics.

"First up is Rock Lee," he said. "He's one year older than you. Mission experience: twenty D-ranks, and eleven C-ranks. His squad leader is Maito Gai and his teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. His hand to hand combat skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention last year as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the exam, this is his first time."

Hinata shifted slightly at the mention of her cousin.

"Next is Sabaku no Gaara." New statistics appeared. "Mission experience: eight C-ranks and, whoa, he completed a B-rank as a Genin. He's from Suna and it's his first time taking the exam, so I don't have any more information on him. But…it seems that he has returned from all his missions without a single scratch."

Shikamaru's eyebrow rose high on his forehead. "A B-rank and not a scratch?" Even Mito couldn't have managed that.

"And finally, Senju Mito-sama," Kabuto said, "Mission experience: twelve C-ranks, ten B-ranks, seventeen A-ranks, and three S-ranks…wow, that's impressive. She's a Suna-born shinobi who was drafted into the shinobi corps at a young age before she was shifted to ANBU. She recently quit and became a Genin once more. Her squad leader is Nara Shikaku and her teammates are Matsuri and Fuu. This is her first time taking the exams."

Sasuke couldn't help but glance the red-haired shinobi's way, but she didn't seem to notice. Three S-ranks?

"Her Taijutsu is said to be one of the best in Konoha, it's how she earned the name Akai Senkou. And the rumor is that this exam is merely a formality, she's already reached Chuunin level."

Several pairs of eyes flicked towards the red-head once more.

And then Naruto had to go and open his mouth.

Shikamaru winced at the blonde's declaration that none of them, as stronger in appearance as they were, were going to defeat him. Mito's eyes opened as she sighed in exasperation and Fuu smacked her face with her hand while Matsuri blinked owlishly in the boy's direction as his pink-haired teammate attempted to strangle him of his words.

Fuu's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of movement from the corner that had been occupied by several shinobi from Oto. They were fast, but she was faster.

The male with dark hair forced Kabuto back with two kunai while his teammate, who seemed to be almost completely covered in bandages, rushed forward with his strange metallic arm contraption.

He swung it and a hand caught it easily, orange eyes glaring.

"No fighting before the exam, moron," Fuu sneered, "or didn't you read the rules?"

The boy's only visible eye widened at how she'd caught his arm so easily and Fuu was well aware of just how many eyes were on her now instead.

How could she have avoided being affected by his sound waves with being in close range to him? That was _impossible!..._ Unless…of course, she was a Medic-nin. She could heal herself internally and unseen if the need ever arose.

Fuu grinned in a feral-like manner before abruptly releasing his arm, making him stumble backwards.

They were all distracted by a small explosion of smoke at the front of the room from within was uttered: "Quite down, you punks!"

Mito grimaced, hunching her shoulders at the sound of the voice. No wonder Yuugao-senpai had thought this year was going to be interesting. Morino Ibiki wasn't exactly a people person, how he got picked to be a proctor was beyond Mito, though, she supposed he had a certain skill for getting inside your head.

The smoke cleared to reveal the man in question and several Chuunin, all wearing a standard grey uniform.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the scarred man said. "My name is Morino Ibiki and I am the proctor and chief examiner for the first test."

Ino's eyes widened slightly as she recognized the name as the man in charge of T&I who worked with her father, and the one that wanted to induct her into the Intelligence Corps after she hit Chuunin. She'd asked her father about it, and he'd agreed that it was indeed a great opportunity. Not many were scouted for the Intelligence Corps when they were still a Genin. A lot was riding on Ino, and she didn't want to lose her chance.

His dark eyes narrowed as he pointed to the three Oto-nin who were giving off an appearance of apathy. "You three from Otogakure, don't think you can do anything you want before the exam. Do you want us to fail you already?"

Fuu gave them a superior smirk, arching an eyebrow in an ' _I told you so,_ ' expression that clearly irked the dark-haired female that was the third member of the Oto-nin team.

"Sorry, sir," the bandaged one said in a tone that lacked sincerity. "It's our first exam and we got a little carried away."

Ibiki smirked, but Mito doubt he bought it; the shinobi was known for never taking anything at face value. It had taken a whole year after her arrival before he stopped assigning ANBU to watch her every move.

"Then it's high time someone laid down a few ground rules," he said, "from this point onward there will be no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officer…and even if that permission is granted, anything that endangers another applicant's life is strictly forbidden. Any of you little piglets who break that rule are disqualified.

"So this test's soft and easy?" the second Oto-nin scoffed.

"It was made just for you," Fuu retorted, crossing her arms.

A tick mark appeared on his forehead. "What'd you say to me?"

"What're you deaf now, too?"

" _Enough!"_ Ibiki snapped before the boy could launch himself at Fuu who could have taken him down with a single hand. "We will now begin the first exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam."

* * *

A written exam? How was that to test how well they'd be suited as a Chuunin? Though, Mito supposed she should have expected it, she had been helping to set it up, though the Hokage had kept her away from any information concerning what the test actually was.

Mito expelled a sigh from her seat and the shinobi on either side of her flinched violently. The pair hadn't been pleased to discover they were sitting beside the Akai Senkou, but they'd discovered rather soon after that they couldn't exactly switch seats.

She leaned her head against her hand, hiding her smirk with ease.

Ino had ended up a few shinobi down from Shikamaru with Chouji three rows in front. Matsuri was one row in front of Mito to her far left and Fuu was behind her three rows back. Naruto had ended up beside Hinata as coincidental as it seemed with Sakura and Sasuke rows behind him. Shino was close to the back and Kiba close to the front.

Matsuri dropped her circular gourd containing her Iron Sand beside her seat as silently as she could manage. She and Gaara got a large number of curious looks for the clearly very heavy items they were lugging around, but Mito doubted Gaara was aware of the similar techniques to his that Matsuri had been practicing alongside her Medical Ninjutsu. It had dropped her a little behind, nearly to where Fuu was at.

"The first exam has a few important rules," Ibiki began once they'd all settled, with the shinobi on either side of Mito veering as far away from her as they could manage without colliding with their neighbor. "I will not accept any questions, so listen carefully…The first rule is you are all given ten points to start with. The written exam consists of ten questions and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction based test. If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your total will fall to seven. Second rule, the pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points—"

"Wait a second!" Sakura called out suddenly, green eyes wide and visibly startled. "What do you mean _'team total'_?"

Mito drummed her pencil against her lip thoughtfully. This was a bit strange, but no doubt the test was designed for those who worked best in teams as Chuunin often did; everyone had to bring something to the table, you couldn't merely have two teammates with exceptional skills to make up for one who lacked them.

"Did you not hear the part about ' _no questions'_?" Ibiki asked coolly, disregarding her question, much to her annoyance. "We have our reasons. Shut up and listen, you might learn something…Rule number three, if, during the course of the exam, a candidate does anything out of the ordinary…in other words, anything that leads the proctors to determine that he or she has cheated…" He smirked. "We subtract two points from each member of the cheater's team."

Mito blinked once and then again.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, the gears inside his head whirring. They seemed to care more about them being caught cheating than the questions…that was curious…

"In other words, some of you will run through your entire allowance of points during the test. If so, you'll be asked to leave," Ibiki continued. "Those who cheat without thinking carefully will only end up hurting themselves."

"We'll be looking over your shoulders when you least expect it," Kotetsu added with a superior grin from where he was slouching in his seat.

Chouji's fingers tapped out a nervous rhythm against the table while Ino chewed on the inside of her cheek.

"You are all trying to become Chuunin. If you are a shinobi, act like a first-rate one…Also, if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail."

Naruto sweated nervously at the thought and Hinata pressed her fingers together. Matsuri swallowed thickly and Fuu issued a low breath. Kiba, on the other hand, cracked his knuckles as Shino straightened his shades on his nose.

"The last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the exam begins," Ibiki said, clearing his throat. "You have one hour for the exam. Begin!"

Mito flipped over the paper to have a look at the questions and wasn't at all surprised to find them incredibly advanced.

_1\. Decode the following cipher and summarize its meaning_

_2\. The parabola marked B represents the greatest effective distance the enemy shinobi A could throw a shuriken from the top of a 23.3 foot tall tree. Calculate the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a consistent speed for shinobi A's assault upon any enemy shinobi operating within the arc that the flight of the shuriken describes. Show your work…_

Mito considered the other questions which got progressively more difficult. Cryptography was one of the first things she'd learned, so it was no trouble, but as soon as she finished deciphering, she put her pencil down and interlocked her fingers as she propped her elbows on the table and closed her eyes, deep in thought.

The point system was obviously the most important part of the exam. Each member of the team had to pass with at least one point or else no one passed at all. They started with ten points and would lose one for every question they missed. Everyone in their team had to get at least one point to pass. Two points would be taken from each team member if they were caught cheating.

Caught cheating…not necessarily the cheating _itself_ …that was interesting.

Mito's eyes flashed open. They were testing their ability to gather information.

These thoughts passed Sakura by a few rows ahead as she looked over her questions in annoyance. The annoyance was partially because they were so difficult –but doable– and partially because of Ino, who had apparently upped her game to snatch Sasuke away by donning a more serious outfit (why hadn't Sakura thought of that?). But Sakura couldn't think about that, she had to focus…

Matsuri was having an internal freak-out as much as Naruto was having an obvious one. She wasn't as smart as Shishou! How was she supposed to solve any of these?

 _Play to your strengths_ , she thought, _that's what Shishou would say…_

But what were her strengths? Medical Ninjutsu, Jiton, Taijutsu… _Jiton!_

The **Daisan no Me (Third Eye)** could cloud one's eyesight and take in the answers on their paper while they were distracted.

Matsuri considered the shinobi taking the test in front of her, but only of them seemed to be working with a bit of diligence…that would be her target.

Fuu didn't have a jutsu of any kind to help her, but she knew the body and how muscles worked and she could tell how they moved to form certain letters or numbers. So she watched carefully and replicated.

Time wore on and more and more were caught cheating and forced to leave with their teammates. Ibiki's eyes shifted across the room, coming to rest on Mito who hadn't moved for a good twenty minutes. She couldn't have finished the exam already…or was she waiting for a suitable target?

"Numbers Fifty-three and Nine, fail."

"Number Forty-one, fail."

Mito made a hand-sign with one hand, holding out her other hand palm up and claw-like as she condensed the moisture that hung in the air to the center of her palm. It formed into an eyeball with a brown iris.

She hardly used the jutsu that she'd based off Gaara's only with her natural element, mostly because it was more difficult to maintain that his. A smirk adorned her lips faintly as she clamped her hand around the eyeball, causing it to scatter into water particles once more, only with a slight acidic touch from her Futton. It wouldn't be enough to burn out their eyes, but it would sting a great deal.

And it took effect immediately.

Then their time was up.

"I will now give you the tenth question," Ibiki declared once all pencils had been put down once more. "Now…this rule is absolute. First you must choose to accept or reject the question."

"Choose?" Temari demanded suddenly and Mito could practically hear her confusion. "What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?"

"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all your points immediately," Ibiki informed them, "and fail, and both your teammates fail along with you."

That caused an outburst that he neatly ignored. "And there is another rule. If you choose to take it and get it wrong, you will never be permitted to apply for the Chuunin Selection Exams again _ever_."

Mito's eyes widened. That was a steep punishment; imagine never being able to rise on the ladder of title based on skill.

"What kind of dumb rule is that?" Kiba snapped, standing up. "There are shinobi here who've sat for the exams before, we know there are!"

A slight dark chuckle escaped the interrogator's lips at those words. "You were unlucky," he said, his eyes gleaming darkly, "I wasn't making the rules in the past…this year, I am. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that."

And, of course being a Chuunin meant you had to be confident in your abilities. Fuu leaned back in her seat and frowned. It also meant not turning back even though the path to your goal was difficult and dangerous.

"Let us begin. Those of you who will not be taking this exam, raise your hands," Ibiki asked of them. "After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave."

For a moment there was no movement, and then slowly hand after hand went up into the air.

Ino's eyes widened as Naruto slowly rose his hand –giving up so fast, that wasn't like him at all. But then he surprised her by slamming it down onto the table with force.

"Never underestimate me!" he yelled, his voice echoing in the silent room. "I don't quit and I won't run away! I'll take your stupid question, even if I risk ending up as a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still be Hokage one day! I'm not scared!"

Mito exhaled sharply through her nose, keeping her amusement to herself as Chouji sniggered ahead of her.

Ibiki paused briefly, taking in the eighty-one students still remaining. "Good call," he said finally, "so, everyone who is still here…you've just passed the first exam!"

That was one hurdle down…now the challenge really began.


	20. Conflicts in the Forest of Death

Stunned silence followed Ibiki's words.

"We passed?" Fuu demanded suddenly, incomprehension clear in her orange eyes. "But-but what about the tenth question?" She was aghast more than anything, and it was an expression shared by many of the class.

Matsuri sighed in relief. She had been considering raising her hand; what if she hadn't been able to answer the question? Did she really want to pull Mito and Fuu down with her, especially since she wasn't technically a Genin herself?

Tenten's lips were still ajar and Lee's eyes wide, but Neji seemed unfazed by the result…perhaps it was the outcome he had been anticipating.

"There is no tenth question," Ibiki said, smirking as he released a snigger, stretching the scar over his lips strangely, "beyond the whole 'accept or reject' decision."

" _EH?!"_

"Then why'd we have to suffer through the other nine questions?" Temari exploded, incensed. "That was a total waste of our time!"

"No, it wasn't," Ibiki disagreed, "all those questions had a purpose, which they've already served. Our goal was to test your skills at…information gathering."

Mito's lips curled upwards slightly as Shikamaru's pineapple head shifted back towards her, arching an eyebrow. She tilted her head in return, the smile becoming more obvious as her boyfriend smirked only to turn back towards the front.

Honestly, how could she have not caught that? She did have an IQ of 189, after all. It was a bit unfortunate that his was higher, and thus the only thing he could hold over her, but still…it wasn't like she hadn't been training with a strategist for years now.

"Our skills at gathering information?" Temari repeated dubiously.

So Ibiki began his explanation.

"Remember the rules at the beginning?" he asked rhetorically. "You pass or fail as part of a three-man cell. With that rule, I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong…would bring your teammates down with you."

Hinata smiled easily as Naruto declared he'd known that was what it was all along, even if she knew the truth, which was that he hadn't had a faintest clue.

"However…the questions are beyond the level that a Genin could be expected to handle, so most of you, having reached that same conclusion, had only one way of retaining your points –by cheating," Ibiki continued. "In other words, we set up the test on the assumption that you'd cheat.

And to ensure there would be suitable targets for you to cheat from, we snuck in a pair of Chuunin who already knew all the answers to be the targets of cheating."

One of them waved, and Mito didn't bother to hide her amusement; it had been the one that had to excuse himself to the bathroom because his eyes were stinging from her jutsu.

"Of course," Ibiki said, reaching his hands up to undo the knot that kept his bandana covering his head, "anyone who cheated in clumsy or obvious ways…failed." He withdrew the bandana and Mito was started by how his skin was even more marred with thick scar tissue. Screw punctures, burns, and deep slashes…Mito hadn't seen anything like it before (and she thought her past was bad). "Because there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than your life. You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance."

His eyes passed over Ino, his prospective recruit, and he was pleased to see that she'd barely flinched at the sight of her scars. Though, his Intel told him she'd probably seen her fair share of injuries from working in the ER on her days off. It would be interesting having a Medic-nin of exceptional skill working under him.

"The information you obtain can't be trusted if you can't keep your presence secret from the enemy." His tone darkened. "Learn that, and learn it well. If you bring back intelligence from a suspect source or a compromised operation, you're doing your enemies' work for them, putting those you serve in danger. That is why we maneuvered you into using your espionage skills to cheat. It was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skills aren't yet up to snuff."

"Okay," Temari said slowly, "but what's the deal with the tenth question?"

"Ah! The tenth question was the first real question on the exam," Ibiki said, raising his arms slightly from his sides for emphasis.

"What on earth do you mean?" Sakura asked, starting slightly as Mito twisted a strand of crimson hair between her fingers.

"Let me explain," he said smoothly. "The tenth question was a choice between two options that were both difficult and dangerous."

Fuu smirked openly. _Called it._

"Those who chose to reject were failed, and their teammates along with them. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the question…lost any chance of ever trying again. It was a nasty, unfair, no-win set of options. So why did I present them?" he inquired of them before continuing without waiting for an answer. "Let's suppose you all go on to successfully attain the rank of Chuunin…you are assigned to steal a vital enemy document…knowing nothing about the skills, deployment, or military preparedness of your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps. Now…do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it rather than place your own life –or the lives of your companions– in jeopardy? Could any Chuunin get away with only taking on the safe missions? Of course not!

"No matter how dangerous the risk…there will be missions that you cannot decline. A shinobi must demonstrate valor that inspires those around him…helping all to overcome their fear. This is a talent that we most value in the commander of a Chuunin cell," he said and Mito crossed her arms, leaning forward on the table with interest. "Those who can't gamble with their own fate…who would trade today's certain risk for tomorrow's uncertain future…never taking the chance that lies before them…are weaklings who make only weak and easy decisions. In my opinion, they don't belong in the ranks of the Chuunin at all! By choosing to accept, you can probably conquer all of the many doubts and difficulties you'll face."

These Chuunin Exams just kept getting more and more interesting, didn't they?

* * *

The proctors of the exam seemed to have all been picked from the T&I Force…was the Hokage trying to drive all the applicants insane?

Ibiki was one thing, but Mitarashi Anko was another thing entirely, that woman was crazy, and Mito had already had to deal with her nearly strangling her after she found out how she'd helped Hayate.

But at least they'd had a day between the first and second exams, so Mito and Fuu's weapon pouches were full of senbon and kunai (neither had taken much to shuriken which were blockier and far less precise), and Matsuri had packed up on exploding tags and similar items that weren't viewed as weapons in her mind, as she was still quite averse to them, such as darts laced with a drug that would knock you out for almost a week (she had been perfecting it for several days now). Fuu had added a tantou, strapped to her back, but Mito felt no need to add much of anything else.

"That's one creepy looking forest," Matsuri said, looking it up and down, and she wasn't wrong there.

The Forest of Death –as Mito was certain it was, when one thought about the rumors surrounding it– certainly gave off an eerie feeling, even Mito had to agree as she looked on impassively.

"This is the arena for the second exam, training ground 44," Anko said, her eyes glinting darkly in amusement as she took in just how many were eyeing the forest with unease. "Also known as the Forest of Death…and you're about to learn why it's called that."

Naruto scoffed loudly and Mito had to hide her face behind her hand as he had the audacity to mock the snake mistress. _"'Ooh, you're going to find out why its called the Forest of Death!_ ' Like that's going to scare us, lady!" He jabbed a finger aggressively in her direction. "You're trying to psych us out, and it's not gonna work!"

"Oh, really?" Anko released a small chuckle at his words. "Pretty cocky, aren't'cha?"

A kunai dropped from the sleeve of her trench coat to her hand and she flung it into the air, grazing just past Naruto, cutting a thin line of red into his cheek as Anko moved forward so fast that Mito was sure several wouldn't have been able to keep up with her moves as she came to stand behind Naruto.

"Heh, your kind are always the first to go," she breathed with a sadistic grin, leaning forward and down, licking at the blood that had trickled out of the wound. "Spilling all that rich, red, luscious blood…"

Matsuri shivered and Fuu looked at her oddly. "Is she for real?" she muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

Mito pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just wait until you see her happy…it's terrifying." Her eyes flickered back towards the Kusa-nin that had rushed forward with Anko's kunai in her strangely long tongue.

Kusa and its shinobi…someone gag her now.

"Looks like we have a few hot-blooded teams on our hands this time out!" Anko grinned widely as the Kusa-nin stepped back to rejoin their team. "This should be fun…but before we can begin the second exam, there's something I have to hand out."

And from her coat pocket she withdrew a packet of papers.

Ino arched an eyebrow and Shikamaru narrowed his eyes whilst Chouji lamented how he was out of bags of chips. Naruto pouted his lips as he scowled and Sakura eyed the paper nervously while Sasuke's eyes glinted. Shino gave no indication of how he felt, but Kiba grinned widely and Hinata pressed her fingers together nervously.

"These are consent forms, anyone wishing to take the exam must sign them."

"Why?" Naruto asked, eying the paper curiously.

Anko laughed at the innocent question. "We want all the details covered before the first exam occurs. Sign before you go in, so we can't be held liable. You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would you?"

"No, Anko-san," Mito intoned in an automatic reflex.

"What was that I heard? Sarcasm from my subordinate?" Anko asked suddenly, looking towards Mito with a steely stare.

"Anko-san, you use sarcasm more than me," Mito pointed out.

Anko scoffed at that with a wave of her hand. "Minor details!"

Mito sweatdropped. _She was unbelievable._

Tenten hid her giggles behind her hand at that. She'd thought nothing could unnerve the ex-ANBU-nin, but clearly she'd never seen her interact with Mitarashi Anko. Mito looked as though she'd rather like to make a hasty escape as the consent forms were passed around.

"First, I'll explain what the second exam entails, then you can sign the forms," Anko said. "With the two other members of your cell, bring the forms to the hut behind you and submit them." She nodded to where three Chuunin sat, including Kotetsu and Izumo who waved cheerfully. "Now, for the exam…to put it simply, it's a no-holds-barred survival test."

Shikamaru gave an exaggerated sigh before yawning widely. _Survival test?_ What a bore.

"Let's start with the geography of this training ground, I'll explain the rest later," Anko said, dropping a scroll so they could all see an aerial view of where the second exam would be taking place. "Training ground 44 is bordered by a circular perimeter, interrupted at regular intervals by forty-four locked gates. There are forests and a river, and in the center is a tower, about ten kilometers from those gates. Within the confines of this carefully delineated area, you're going to undergo a survival test. During the course of that test, you may use any techniques or weapons that you have at your disposal. It's a kind of a fight-to-the-death version of 'capture the flag'… or in this case, 'capture the scroll'."

"Scrolls?" Shino's voice uttered solemnly.

"Yes," Anko said, nodding as she withdrew two from another of her pockets. "Scrolls." She held them in one hand. One was white and bore the kanji for heaven and the other was blue and bore the kanji for earth. "There's a 'heaven scroll' and an 'earth scroll' and your team's objective is to acquire them both. There are eighty-one of you here, that's twenty-seven three-man cells. Unfortunately for you, it means the scrolls will be dispersed unevenly. Thirteen teams will be given a heaven scroll, and fourteen teams will be given an earth scroll. Acquire them and take them to the tower."

"And those who lose their scrolls when they are stolen will fail," Sakura realized, "that'll cut us down to nearly a half!"

"You bet!" Anko grinned widely. "And there's a time limit, you have one hundred twenty hours to complete this exam, which is exactly five days."

"Five days?!" one of the Kiri-nin in the back cried, aghast.

"What're we going to do for food?!" Chouji added, thinking with his stomach again. Mito's lips twitched into a smile and Fuu stifled her amusement.

"That's your problem," Anko said with a careless shrug, as though she couldn't be bothered, which seemed likely. "The forests are full of nature's bounty…of course, they're also full of man-eating animals, deadly insects, and poisonous plants."

Chouji's face fell and Shikamaru couldn't help but release a chuckle behind a cough.

"That's why it's called survival, Chouji," Ino remarked, nudging the plump boy with her hip, jostling him just slightly.

"There's no way as many as thirteen teams will pass this," Anko warned them. "As the time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster with less recovery time for mistakes, accidents, or injuries. You'll be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eyes open. In addition to those who die in attempts to defend or capture a scroll…some of you are bound to succumb to exhaustion, exposure, starvation, and dehydration."

"What if we want to quit in the middle?" Shikamaru's drawl could be easily heard and following it a smack of skin against skin as Ino slapped her hand to her face in exasperation.

"As a rule, you can't give up during the exam," Anko said, smiling in a feral manner. "You will spend five days in this forest."

"How troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled and Mito grinned; wouldn't it be ironic if he was made Chuunin given how much he complained about it?

"As for the other rules and offenses that will get you disqualified…" Anko continued. "Obviously the teams that fail to reach the tower in time as a three man cell, even if they are carrying a heaven and earth scroll are out. So is any team that loses a member, whether to death or to severe injury. And under no circumstances can you leave the forest before your time is up. No recess, no time outs. Also, under no circumstance are you permitted to look within the scrolls you are carrying until you reach the tower."

"What happens if you look?" Naruto asked, his eyes a bit wide as he shifted his weight from foot to foot as though antsy to get started.

"That's for those who look to know!" Anko winked. "If any of you make it to Chuunin level there will be times when you'll be entrusted with top-secret documents, so consider this a test of your trustworthiness. That's all the explanation you'll get. We'll trade one scroll for every three forms. When you've got yours, go to the gate you want to start from. Everyone will begin at the same time…and one final piece of advice…stay alive."

"That was cheerful," Fuu said as the Tokubetsu Jounin moved away. "Is she always like that?"

"I tend to avoid the T&I Force," Mito said with a shiver, "she scares me."

"I didn't think very many things scared you," Matsuri said in surprise.

"Let's lock you up in a room for a few hours and see how you keep your sanity intact, eh, Matsuri?"

"Never mind," Matsuri muttered, signing the paper quickly once she'd seen Fuu and Mito had already done so. Being a Medic-nin meant the possibility of being targeted first and Matsuri had been trained extensively in how to not be a liability, as much as Fuu at the very least. She was confident that they'd ace the test.

"Maa, Mito, if we finish this test in, say, two hours…" Fuu squinted her eyes towards the forest. "Will we get two weeks off hospital duty?"

Mito arched an eyebrow. She wasn't much of a gambler, even how much her mother seemed addicted to it, but there were certain bets she couldn't help but make. A smirk touched her lips.

"If we can manage it in under an hour, I'll give you three," she said.

Matsuri frowned. "That…could be doable." Their speed wouldn't be an issue, given how fast they were now (Mito's training regime was downright _brutal_ ). "But no one's going to want to fight against the Akai Senkou."

"Well," Mito bared her teeth, "I guess it'll just have to seem like they aren't fighting the Akai Senkou, won't it?"

A henge! That would certainly get the drop on their opponents.

"Come on," Mito said, gathering their signed papers together as they headed towards the hut around which a thick curtain had been pulled so that no one else would be able to tell what team had which scroll and who on the team had the scroll.

They were given an earth scroll in return and it was immediately given to Matsuri to hide away in her gourd because she was the least likely to be considered for holding it.

And then they strode off to find a suitable gate, henging only once they were out of sight.

* * *

A grey-garbed Chuunin stood in front of Mito, Fuu, and Matsuri's gate, blocking them from leaving before the exam started.

As it was, Mito had ended up as the only male on the squad, with brown hair and blue eyes and what seemed to be a permanent scowl. Fuu was a blonde with a high ponytail and dark eyes, a smirk twisting presently on her lips, whilst Matsuri had short dark hair and jade green eyes that glittered. Her eyes reminded Mito of how Gaara's used to look when they were children.

" _Begin!"_

The Chuunin stepped aside and the gates opened and the trio shot through, leaping into the trees so fast that the Chuunin nearly missed them all together. He smirked; impressive.

"Who should we go after first?" Fuu asked as they leapt from tree to tree.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Mito said with a smirk, glancing back towards their tail. "It looks like Kiri's got a death wish."

They landed on a tree branch and Matsuri was already going through a flurry of hand signs, the iron sand leaving the gourd to hover around her, waiting for her to complete the sequence.

" **Jiton: Suna Arare! (Magnet Release: Sand Hail** )" she called out and the sand formed into several small round-shaped balls that shot forward with enough force to rip through flash. Unfortunately, only two were quick enough to leap out of the way, the third was too slow and earned a shot of iron sand through his abdomen.

He cried out in pain as he went down, falling with a heavy thump from the tree to the ground.

One of his brown-haired teammates launched themselves into the air towards Mito's team. " **Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Bullet Technique)!"** he yelled before a strong torrent of water escaped his lips.

Mito, Matsuri, and Fuu scattered as the jet of water easily ripped through the branch they had been standing on.

" _Damn!"_ Fuu whistled lowly as she leapt to a new branch to avoid the next jet, throwing three senbon from one hand towards the jutsu's user that missed him just barely to lodge in the tree.

The third member, a female with a pointed chin launched herself towards Mito, throwing several kunai towards her that she easily blocked, using a kunai of her own to block the girl's strike as she collided with Mito in midair.

They thrust against each other, sending each back in the direction that they had come before launching forward once more, their knives clashing sharply against one another.

Out of the corner of her eye, Fuu grasped a branch tightly and swung from under it, kicking the girl's teammate harshly in the chest, sending him flying into a nearby tree, Iron Sand locking him there.

"You're outmatched," Mito advised her. "Hand over your scroll and you can keep your life."

The girl chanced a glance over her shoulder and Mito knocked her head against the side of the girl's temple.

Mito had never head butted anyone before, but, suffice to say, she wouldn't be attempting it again anytime soon. Her head throbbed slightly from the act and the girl fell to the ground, clutching at her own head in pain.

"Wow, Mito, overdo it much?" Fuu sniggered as they dropped to the ground as well. "That's gonna bruise."

The girl scowled at the three of them. "Who the hell are you?"

"Currently the only three willing to lift a finger to save your teammate over there," Mito pointed towards the boy who had been cut down by Matsuri's first attack.

She glanced in his direction and paled drastically, and then she weighed her options. She could hand over the scroll and save her teammate or keep it and make a run for it and be disqualified for losing both her teammates.

A sigh left her lips as she withdrew an earth scroll towards Mito.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Matsuri said with a light laugh, "you don't have the one we want."

"You get let off the hook, just this once," Fuu added as Mito moved to where her teammate had fallen, pressing green-glowing charka hands against his wound.

The girl blinked in surprise. "You could limit the number that passes by taking our scroll."

"But we don't need it," Mito said as her chakra faded and the boy stirred briefly under her hands. "Your companion will be out for awhile and your other teammate is going to have some serious bruising of you don't let up, Matsuri."

"Oops!" Matsuri made a few gestures with her hands, drawing them in a circle, forcing the Iron Sand to release the boy who groaned and slumped against the trunk of the tree as the dark sand swirled in the air before returning to her gourd. Matsuri's control over it wasn't as automatic as Gaara's, but it worked well enough.

"We should get going," Mito added, standing and striding over to her teammates. "If you two want three weeks off, that is."

"See ya!" Fuu saluted and Matsuri waved as they all launched into the trees.

"Well, that was a dud," Fuu complained once they were a bit away, "but I guess not knowing the scroll type is the whole point."

"Because if we did know, this would be too easy," Matsuri said with a wide grin. Mito had told them they were at least Chuunin-level at this point with their Medical Ninjutsu and nearly so with their Taijutsu (though still nowhere near as fast as Rock Lee who seemed to have gotten even faster since Mito last crossed paths with him).

"Approaching at four o'clock," Mito intoned, taking up the duty of spotter with her sensitive ears.

"They better have a heaven scroll, is all I'm saying," Fuu grumbled. "I need an extended period away from the hospital…it smells too clean! And I've got a sensitive nose!"

Mito snorted. "Fuu, my nose is more sensitive than yours."

"That's because you've still got you're little friend," Fuu muttered carelessly. "Oh, looks like its Kusa."

Mito twisted in midair, her fingers forming the hand signs before uttering the words **"Futton: Funsha no Sansei (Boil Release: Acid Jet)!"** And she opened her mouth to release a poisonous spray of acid that cut easily through the tree the trio following them had been intending to land on.

They leapt aside quickly with a yelp.

"What the hell?" Demanded the boy in front with pale eyes and a square jaw. "You melted a tree!"

"That tends to happen when you use Futton," Mito said, rather uncaring fashion. The team that had followed them was from Kusa…Mito really hated Kusa.

Each of their opponents grasped their weapons uneasily, one tightening his grip on his katana, and it was Fuu who took the first initiative.

She interlocked her fingers, her index fingers and thumbs pointing straight up into the hand seal for 'tora' as she channeled her chakra.

" **Suiton: Suiryuuben (Water Release: Water Dragon Whip)!"** Water exploded into being over her head like a floating sphere, sharp whip-like spears emerging from within, one grabbing the nearest shinobi and tossing him bound tightly into the sphere, choking for breath.

"Hideo!"

Fuu smirked. "Who's next?"

They scattered and Mito and Matsuri shot after the runners.

"Cowards," Fuu scoffed, tilting her head to look at her prisoner. "Nice team you've got there."

The boy glowered as best as he could without losing his breath, but he was going to have to expel it sooner or later.

"Your teammates are chopped liver," Fuu couldn't help but snigger.

Truth be told, his teammates had been forced to separate in one of Mito's most often used strategies. One on one was much easier to deal with than having a multitude of opponents, which meant accounting for various different styles of moving.

Matsuri narrowed her eyes as she caught up with her fleet-footed opponent, outstretching her hand to snag the girl's foot with her sand.

She released a scream, slicing through the sand with her tantou. "What the hell—?!"

"Its just Iron Sand," Matsuri said with a wide grin. The day she'd finally managed to get the technique right had been a very good day indeed.

She received a glare as the Kusa-nin thrust her hands into a series of seals. **"Doton: Kengan no Jutsu (Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique)!"**

Matsuri ducked back, the rock-encased fist just missing her nose. She skidded on the ground as she tightened her hand into a fist and then launched it forward to collide with the girl's fist.

Her eyes went wide as the rock cracked on impact.

" _That's impossible!"_ she spluttered.

"I'm the apprentice of Senju Mito," Matsuri answered, relishing in the pallor that the girl's cheeks attained at those words. "Goodnight!"

A swift knock against the back of her head sent her down to the ground.

Dealing with their enemies swiftly was the best course of option, as it was, Team One was running behind schedule. At this rate they wouldn't make until after an hour had passed, and then Fuu would throw a fit, Matsuri could just see it (sometimes she really had to wonder who was older between all of them).

She rifled through the girl's back pocket and withdrew a heaven scroll.

" _Score,"_ she murmured to herself, hiding it in her gourd as she ran off to search for where her Shishou had disappeared off to.

"Shishou?"

There was a loud crack and a yell of pain as Matsuri changed direction just slightly to come to a stop beside her sensei who was gazing down at her opponent coldly as he cowered.

"What happened?" she asked automatically.

"Just another shinobi who can't tell the difference between a human being and a demon," Mito shrugged her shoulders, a practiced movement that came more from habit than actual feeling. The boy before her had been among those that had seen her in Kusa when she'd used her red chakra and had gone as white as snow when she'd dropped the henge.

"Oh," Matsuri said, scowling towards the shinobi as well. "Anyways, the girl had the scroll, it was a heaven."

Mito smiled in relief.

"Great!" Fuu's voice as she dropped to the forest floor on bent knees. "Then let's run at full speed!" She pumped her fist into the air in elation.

"What happened to the shinobi you caught in your jutsu?" Mito asked her shrewdly.

"Eh, he's fine," Fuu said with a careless wave of her hand, "he's just having some issues with oxygen debt."

Mito and Matsuri sweatdropped at that.

* * *

"That's some team you've got, Shikaku-sama," Kurenai said, mildly impressed from the view of the cameras that were hidden throughout the Forest of Death. "It's not even twenty minutes in and they've already got both scrolls."

Shikaku had almost disregarded her words, far more focused on the cold indifference his apprentice had gained during her fight with the boy from Kusa. It had been awhile since he'd seen such a look on her face; clearly she was still firmly against Kusa.

"Yes," he drawled, "they are exceptional."

A few Jounin chuckled but the others looked at him shrewdly. Shikaku wasn't one to mince his words and he certainly wasn't one to boast of his or anyone else's abilities.

There was no denying Senju Mito's hard-earned skill –a genius of hard work, as Gai had said–, she'd certainly made a name for herself, not in an entirely good way. But Matsuri and Fuu were certainly something; Shikaku did have to wonder how she'd just happened upon them, surely it couldn't have been just chance. Matsuri was practically a weapon despite never using any herself and Fuu was more than an average, capable shinobi.

They were going to win him some money if they got to the tower in less than five hours.

He smirked.

* * *

When Shikaku popped into existence from his Genin's opened scrolls reaching the tower, he'd clearly entered into the middle of an argument.

Mito was standing off to the side, ignoring Fuu as best as she could while Matsuri had removed the gourd from her back and was sitting on it as she massaged her back.

"Seventy-one minutes!" Fuu was complaining. "That's only eleven minutes off, Mito!"

"Really?" Mito said in a would-be-fascinated tone. "I honestly had no idea."

"Do I want to know?" Shikaku asked as Matsuri groaned, rubbing at her eyes, and Fuu flopped back onto the ground. For the most part, Matsuri and Fuu seemed to be in more need of regaining their breath than Mito –this came as no surprise, given how fast his apprentice was on a good day–, their clothes were worn and ripped in some areas but they'd retained no injuries, as the Medic-nin were meant to be the last to die on a squad (though with a squad made completely of Medic-nin, Shikaku wasn't sure how that worked).

"They would've gotten three weeks off if we'd gotten here in under an hour," Mito said with a careless shrug. "Now they only get two."

Fuu groaned loudly again and Shikaku snorted.

"You broke our record for the fastest team by over four hours," he told them dryly, "I don't know why you're complaining."

"You've clearly never had clinic duty," Matsuri ground out, "and those civilian doctors and nurses don't much like Shishou, so _we_ don't like _them_."

Shikaku arched an eyebrow, glancing towards Mito who hadn't even bothered to hide her amusement.

"Ah, but Matsuri, think of the effect you'll have on Suna's hospital after this is all said and done, because of your experience here," Mito commented, giving the brunette a wink.

Matsuri flushed and Fuu sniggered.

"I don't suppose I have to explain much about this test, do I?" Shikaku mused.

"Well, the point was to showcase our abilities to stay within a mission's parameters, wasn't it?" Mito asked, scratching at her cheek over one of her birthmarks.

"Yes," he agreed.

"What would've happened if we'd opened those scrolls before-hand?" Fuu asked curiously.

A smirk touched his lips faintly. "You would have been knocked out until the end of the exam."

Fuu gaped at him and Matsuri fell off her gourd and both of Mito's eyebrows rose.

"So congratulations on not getting knocked out."

"Gee, Sensei," Mito drawled, "how _kind_ of you."

He ruffled her hair and released an indignant noise, batting his hand away whilst her apprentices looked on, laughing.

"You three rest up, it'll be another four days until the exam is concluded," Shikaku said, but Mito had other plans.

* * *

This test made Hinata anxious as she followed Kiba's lead with Shino, towards where two Genin teams were on the edge beginning a fight. She didn't bother to mention one of the teams was comprised of Mito's siblings; they would find out soon enough.

They huddled behind a bush and Akamaru began to tremble in a way Hinata had never seen before.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, her voice hardly above a whisper. "Why have we stopped?"

"Something spooked Akamaru," Kiba muttered back, gazing intently at his ninken with concern. Ninken had the ability to sniff out the strength of a foe based on their chakra; he had never really taken to Mito, which would have concerned him if he hadn't seen her split the earth before. "Whoever's up ahead…they're no ordinary foe."

Hinata swallowed thickly, thinking of how Mito looked when she got angry, her eyes cold and unfeeling. Maybe her siblings were similar to her in that aspect.

Three pairs of eyes peered through the bush to watch the scene intently with a cue from Akamaru about the danger of the big guy from Ame.

"Prepare to meet your maker," the head Ame Genin snarled.

"Cut the chatter," the red-haired boy Hinata knew to be named Gaara spoke in a dry rasp that sent a shiver down her spine in how unfeeling and dark it was, "let's fight. We don't take orders from fossils like you."

The older Genin that had first spoken made a sound of annoyance, his eyes narrowing.

But then the second male Suna-nin spoke –Kankurou, Hinata recalled–. "Hey, Gaara, I thought we'd agreed not to fight anyone until we knew what kind of scroll they had."

It was a sound plan, Shino thought, it would certainly encompass wasting less time and chakra, but he couldn't help but notice how careful the shinobi's words were, as though he was worried how his younger counterpart would react. Surely, he and the young woman were the red-heads superiors, given their age difference?

"I don't care," Gaara said, disproving his theory. "I'll kill everyone we encounter."

Even Kiba now couldn't help but shiver at his tone of voice. There was something about it that was just too unnerving.

"Then let's do this," their opponent growled, gripping the six umbrellas strapped to his back and swinging them around front, an action that opened them completely. He threw them up and Kankurou and the girl –Temari, Hinata's memory supplied– tensed, though Gaara remained unfazed. "You're dead, kid!"

His hands formed into a single hand sign. **"Ninpou: Jouro senbon (Ninja Art: Sprinkling Needles)!"**

The umbrellas twisted in the air, spinning and releasing a multitude of needles in every direction. There would be no way to dodge them all, and they were all bearing down on Mito's twin. There was a loud explosion of earth as the needles flew at the red-head, but a moment later, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were all stunned speechless.

Not one senbon had hit its mark.

Even Shino's eyes were wide behind his shades as he took in the scene of the red-head standing, protected by a cocoon of sand that had hardened into a durable shell. It gave off the appearance of a porcupine simply because how many senbon had been struck into it.

"Is that it?" Gaara asked. He hadn't even blinked, unfazed by the attack.

The Ame-nin stepped back, severely startled. "Not one hit?" he muttered to himself. "Impossible!" He channeled his chakra and more senbon flew towards Gaara, but the sand drew upwards to protect him further from the assault.

It was almost… _organic._

"A rain or needles, huh?" he rasped. "Then I'll make it a deluge of blood."

There was something in his voice that was so dark and cold that Hinata couldn't help but tremble.

"His chakra's immense," Kiba hardly whispered, his eyes focused on Gaara, deeply unnerved. "And that sand…"

"The sand?" Shino prompted beside him.

Kiba's nose twitched. "It reeks of blood."

Hinata swallowed thickly.

"A wall of sand?" The Ame-nin gasped. _Rightly so,_ Shino thought, he didn't know of any techniques that involved controlling sand.

"That's right," Kankurou spoke with an almost bored tone, "it's an absolute defense. Only Gaara has ever mastered the art. He draws the sand within the sphere of his massive chakra then manipulates it into the shape he needs and renders it solid. Even more remarkably, it is done without a conscious effort on his part. It happens when he needs it to, independent of his will. Any frontal assault is doomed to fail."

 _Was it wise to give that much information away?_ Hinata wondered. Or perhaps it was that the shinobi from Ame wouldn't be alive long enough to tell anyone else? That thought made her nervous.

"You're not good enough to touch our Gaara."

His words incensed the Ame-nin who released an animalistic snarl as he rushed forward. "Don't take me lightly!" he roared.

This was a rather foolish move on his part as Gaara drew his hands into a single sign before forcing one hand outwards in a claw-like motion. " **Sabaku Kyuu (Sand Binding Coffin),"** he intoned and the sand moved far swifter than anything Kiba had ever seen, catching the Ame-nin first by the leg and then racing up his body until he was completely encased in sand.

With him unable to move, his umbrellas fell to lodge in the ground.

None in the clearing noticed the figure that landed on light feet on a branch above. Violet eyes watched as Gaara moved forward to grasp one of the umbrellas.

"I can cover your loud mouth and kill you," he said with disinterest, "but you're hardly worth it." He pulled the umbrella to shade his head as he lifted the mass of sand and shinobi into the air before clenching his hand into a fist. **"Sabaku Sousou (Sand Waterfall Funeral)!"**

Mito closed her eyes when it rained blood, feeling the spray coat the side of her face closest to the scene, the blood running hot and wet against her skin and peppering her clothes.

She clenched her fist and disappointment and regret flowed through her veins like blood.

* * *

Naruto wasn't stupid, but he was dense, at least, that was what Shikamaru said. It was the reason he didn't know why Hinata got so red around him (now a heavy pink), because when he mentioned it to Shikamaru, his friend had shook his head in exasperation and called him dense.

But he wasn't stupid and he had a certain talent for Fuuinjutsu. Mito had been impressed when she set him in front of a seal more than a year and a half ago. He had a certain knack for sealing, so to speak, but without a proper teacher he could only get so far, as Mito said, words that sounded repeated, as though she was reciting them from her own memory.

Naruto wasn't stupid and he'd learned a thing or two from being in close proximity to the Nara clan, but slight of hand was something he already had down. Switching their scroll with a fake was far too easy.

Secrets were better kept when so few knew about them, so Naruto didn't mention it to his teammates, nearly biting his tongue, and it was only later that he realized what a great idea it was to keep his silence ("A stroke of genius I'm surprised you were capable of," Shikamaru would say, earning him a scowl).

Naruto had been caught unawares, that he would admit, but being eaten by a snake would be a terrible way to die, and exploding it was even more disgusting, but if there was one thing unpredictable Uzumaki Naruto was capable of, it was making an entrance.

"Sorry, Sasuke-teme," he said, baring his teeth in a foxy grin, "I never could remember that password!"

In his absence, it seemed that Sasuke and Sakura had engaged a foreign shinobi wearing a Kusa hitai-ate, but there was something freaky about this shinobi who had curled her body in a snake-like manner around the tree.

But Sasuke wasn't having any of his help, but what jarred Naruto more was how rundown his teammates looked and how Sasuke in particular looked alarmed by their opponent, and afraid. Naruto wasn't sure he'd ever seen such a look on the Uchiha's face.

"This guy is way out of our league!" Sasuke shouted up to him before removing the scroll from his back pocket, gritting his teeth as he spoke to their opponent. "If it's the scroll you want, just take it and leave!"

Naruto's eyes flashed a darker blue as his teammate flung the scroll into the air. Now that definitely wasn't something Sasuke would have said, even if he had known that the scroll was a fake.

He kicked off of the branch to grab the scroll out of the air and landed beside Sasuke, the scroll clenched in his fist.

"Stay out of this!" Sasuke snarled before Naruto nailed him sharply in the stomach, sending him flying and Sakura released a startled cry.

" _Always hit hard and fast if you can," Mito had once told him seriously. "You can do a lot of damage like that."_

"What're you doing?" Sasuke demanded, landing on an adjacent branch, rubbing at his bruised abdomen.

"I don't know the password," Naruto growled, "but I know that you're the fake one here."

"What?" Sakura gasped, her green eyes owlish, looking from Sasuke to Naruto, briefly disregarding their foe.

"What are you talking about? I'm real!" Sasuke insisted.

" _Liar!"_ Naruto sneered, angrier than he'd been in awhile. Angrier than he'd been when he'd thought Sasuke was dead, angrier than he'd been when Zabuza and Haku were killed, and angrier than he'd been when he'd discovered his father had sealed the Kyuubi inside his own son. "Giving up our scroll…that's what cowards do! And Sasuke-teme isn't a coward, so you can't be him!"

It would almost have been a backhanded compliment if Naruto hadn't been calling Sasuke a coward to start with.

"I don't know how strong this ass-clown is," Naruto said, gesturing towards the snake-like shinobi. "But even if we handed our scroll over, we wouldn't know if he'd even spare us, did you think of that?"

Shikamaru and Mito would have, he was sure; they tried to be at least three moves ahead at all times (though it seemed to work out better for him than her, he knew).

"And you think I'm the one who doesn't understand the situation," Naruto scoffed.

Sakura couldn't fault him there; she wasn't even sure they would get out alive. This opponent of theirs…they were something else entirely, not even close to Genin level.

The shinobi chuckled softly and spoke Naruto's name, earning a dark glare from the boy in question. "You're right," she said, "why bargain, when I can simply kill you and take the scroll?"

She drew back the sleeve of her arm to expose what could've been a seal of some sort, but the only seals Naruto were familiar with were more circular in shape, like the one on his stomach and one exploding tags and the sealing scrolls that hold extra weapons. Blood was swiped across the mark and a loud explosion occurred from the shinobi as a giant snake burst into view.

The **Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)**! But he'd only seen Mito perform it and certainly not like that.

Naruto leapt quickly to avoid being squashed by its great head, but the backlash threw him against a trunk of an opposing tree so hard that he coughed up blood. But he didn't had much time to think about that as the snake's tail lashed out towards him and then he fell down and down, but he wasn't done yet. He collected chakra into his palm as he had seen Ino do countless times before and punched the snake right on the nose, his eyes no longer blue but red and slit-like, like the fox's.

"Not this time!" he yelled and his hit collided with so much force that it sent the snake reeling backwards and startled the shinobi.

She narrowed her eyes and unfurled her hand, releasing a jutsu of her own, fire like Sasuke always used. It burned hot in his face and tossed him back painfully once again as Sasuke and Sakura looked on in shock, wondering when their teammate had gotten just so strong.

But the shinobi was no longer watching Naruto, turning their eyes towards Sasuke instead. "Now, it's your turn," she purred. "How will you fight?"

And then the snake lunged forward and Sasuke didn't move, but a moment later, it didn't matter as Naruto stood between his teammate and the snake, breathless and in pain.

"Hey, you okay…you big chicken?" he rasped, his smirk bloodstained as Sasuke's eyes widened. He almost didn't feel the tongue wrapping around him, drawing him upwards, but he definitely felt the hand that slammed into his stomach, over his seal.

And it was the last thing he felt in a long time.

* * *

When Fuu and Matsuri's paths crossed with Mito's siblings, the first thing Matsuri did was blush bright red as Gaara's eyes swept over her and then trip over her feet (she would have certainly spilled her sand if she hadn't corked it, that was for sure).

Fuu sniggered as she crouched beside her fellow apprentice as the boy walked right past without as much as a glance.

"Does Mito know you've got a crush on her twin?" she asked with a wide grin, laughing at Matsuri's expression from the question.

She looked horrified at the prospect and thoroughly embarrassed. Most people were afraid of Gaara in Suna, in fact, almost everyone was, but Matsuri couldn't explain it…there was something about him that drew her in.

And she prayed Mito never found out.

* * *

Shikaku peeled his sandals off silently before striding into the house. It was more quiet than usual without his son's constant drawling complaints every time his mother asked something of him. When Shikamaru was younger, the complaints were often followed by Mito's laughter.

Yoshino was at the stove and she smiled when her husband's arms wrapped around her from behind. "How's the test going?" she hummed as he dropped his chin to her shoulder. "Your squad doing well?"

"They broke the record and passed at seventy-one minutes," Shikaku murmured into her ear.

"And Shikamaru?"

"He's doing well," Shikaku replied, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck, making her laugh lightly. "Better than I expected."

"He gets that from me," Yoshino said, twisting her head slightly to wink at him and Shikaku chuckled. "How about Naruto? Is he doing as well?"

"Last I saw," Shikaku said in contemplation. "I'm sure he's fine. He's Kushina's son, after all."

"That's not exactly a good thing," Yoshino reminded him dryly.

"Maybe not," Shikaku conceded, smoothing circles into her hips. "But it doesn't look like there are going to be any kids around for awhile."

Yoshino twisted in her husband's arms and laughed into his kiss.

* * *

Mito's knowledge of electronics was negligible at best, but she knew that the various cameras installed in the forest were not supposed to have their wires cut.

She leapt close to the camera, examining it closely with a frown, her unease growing steadily. The scent of snakes was thick in the air, and the last time she'd smelled it…

Mito shook her head to clear her thoughts, seeing for the wires had been snipped. And then she tensed, clenching her hand into a fist and swinging it as she turned on her heel.

The person it collided with burst into smoke.

A Kagebunshin.

"I know you're there," she called, "hiding is useless."

And he stepped into view on her branch, or perhaps he'd been there the whole time? His face was different, wrinkled and off color and peeling away to reveal one eye that Mito found all too familiar. Even in her drug-induced slumber, she wouldn't have forgotten those eyes.

"Ah, Mito-hime," he purred in a voice that sent shivers down her spine. Jiraiya called her that sometimes, after the nickname her mother had been given, Tsunade-hime, for being Shodaime-sama's granddaughter. "You look well."

Mito's violet eyes darkened at his words. "You look like hell," she said shortly, not rising to the challenge, "Orochimaru."

The Missing-nin smirked. "My final experiment," he mused, "and I was so sure it would have worked on you…given your lineage."

Mito hardly blinked. Injecting Shodaime's DNA into a foreign body wasn't something she viewed as remotely fun, and she remembered likening it to being burned from the inside out.

"Isn't it a pity when things don't go according to plan?" she asked, tilting her head and listening to the sounds of the forest, the silence wasn't a good sign.

"Indeed," he said, and Mito looked down suddenly at the feel of something cutting into her leg. She stomped on the snake, cursing herself internally on how it could have gotten so close.

It didn't matter, she could still feel the venom pulsing through her, everything was becoming sluggish.

" **Don't fall asleep, idiot!"** Shukaku barked inside her. **"You sleep and you're dead!"**

He didn't really need to tell her that, Mito knew all too well the effects poison could have on the body, but the most she could do now was try to metabolize it quickly, or cut into her bloodstream and try to get rid of it directly…but that could lead to dizziness and fainting and then she'd probably die of blood loss.

She leaned a hand against the trunk, ignoring how she felt something akin to a heartbeat under her hand and channeled her chakra as she gritted her teeth.

"It's always best to get rid of failures in an experiment, isn't it?" Orochimaru inquired rhetorically, but Mito didn't hear anything else as she Shunshin'd away in a tangle of leaves.

* * *

Getting their earth scroll was a bit difficult, but they still managed it in the end, which was a small victory on Shikamaru's part. He was tired and his chakra was nearly depleted, but he was sure the same could be said for Chouji who'd immediately fallen into a deep slumber once they'd found an adequate place to sleep that was hidden from sight (Ino didn't fit into that category since she had a bit more chakra than them, which made sense when you considered how much Mito had).

"I can take first watch," Ino offered, having finished refilling their canteens at the river ("Never go anywhere without a canteen!" Chouji had declared when they'd stared dumbfounded at him), coming to sit beside him.

Shikamaru glanced at her. Her long hair had gotten caught in a Katon jutsu, so she ended up hacking off most of the ponytail and he couldn't tell if she was for or against that decision.

"I'm fine," he said, despite his distinct yawn.

Ino gave him an amused glance. "I could heal those bruises and cuts, at least."

Shikamaru looked down at himself and sighed. "I'll wait, thanks."

The smirk she threw him was all too knowing. _"Oh_ ," she said slyly, "you just want Mito to heal you up, don't you?"

Shikamaru made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. "As our Medic-nin, you should be the one conserving your chakra, Ino." Medic-nin were the most important members of a squad, after all.

"Right, right," Ino winked. "I'll pretend I believe you."

Shikamaru issued a low groan. "Go to sleep, you troublesome woman, before you wake up Chouji."

"Too late," their robust teammate uttered from where he'd collapsed.

It took a great deal of time to convince Ino to leave him to first watch and then Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief at the silence.

The forest was relatively quiet and it seemed like the remaining teams had reached a temporary respite in order to gain some sleep for the next day.

But Shikamaru knew better than to believe that, so he, Chouji, and Ino had set up several traps around their temporary abode.

He twisted a stone between his finger thoughtfully as he gazed out into the night. He thought he saw a flash of red and his grip on his kunai had tightened, but nothing had come from it.

Shikamaru thought of Mito with her bright red hair, but it could had been anyone; wearing red seemed to be a bit commonplace in the shinobi world as it was easier to wash blood out.

He dug the stone into the ground, still thinking of his fleet-footed girlfriend, who he was certain had made it to the tower within the first seven hours (probably less).

Her eyes were such a dull purple when she'd been blind, but it was only once the poison had left her that Shikamaru realized just how bright and full of fire they were. They held that staggering power to stun someone into silence or bring forth words and the way she looked at him…he'd never get used to that.

Shikamaru had asked her if she thought he should enter into the exams and she'd kissed the corner of his mouth (he wouldn't have minded if the kiss stayed on center, but he didn't mention that), telling him that he should do what he want.

" _But," she'd added slyly, "it's a waste you're a Genin with a mind like yours."_

And then she'd laughed when he smirked, not even bothering to point out her similar situation.

* * *

"I'm perfectly fine, Takuto-san."

"Mito-sama, I don't think it's wise—"

Temari started at the sound of her sister's voice as she strolled through the tower; there wasn't much to do and it was still another two days before the exam was at an end. So she couldn't help but look within the hospital wing (which was open to everyone at the tower once they'd passed until before the end of the exam).

Mito was a cross between exasperated and annoyed as she spoke with a man wearing a white Medic-nin uniform. Her fingers were untying the bandage that had been bound tightly to her left shin.

There were dried blood beneath and a greenish substance that Temari didn't recognize, but her skin was unmarred.

"I know my own limits, Takuto-san," Mito said patiently, "and I'm perfectly fine."

But the Medic-nin appealed instead towards the man in the room that Temari had missed.

He had hair that was dark and held into a tight spiky ponytail and eyes a similar color and he was wearing a deerskin, which Temari found strange.

"Shikaku-sama, you're Mito-sama's sensei—"

Shikaku held up a hand to stall his words. "Mito knows how much her body can take, Takuto-san, she's going to leave either way."

Mito grinned as the Medic-nin huffed and shook his head, moving in the opposite direction.

"You're lucky to be alive," he remarked once he had gone. "There was enough venom in you to take out a grown man."

Mito shrugged as if unconcerned and Temari goggled at her in the shadows. "I metabolized it quickly."

"Hm," was all he said, roving over his apprentice, easily taking note of how twitchy she was. He knew very well why a snake had gotten the drop on her, but he didn't bring it up; Mito had already given the information to the Hokage. "I suppose I'll leave you to the mercy of your sister," Shikaku added, glancing towards the hallway beyond and Temari, knowing she couldn't exactly make a run for it now, stepped into the room.

"Are you alright?" Temari asked suddenly. Mito was smaller and younger than she'd ever seen her look, which might've had something to do with the pallor of her skin and the predominant circles under her eyes.

The red-head groaned, rubbing at her eyes. "I'm perfectly fine, nothing a fast metabolism and some antivenin can't cure."

Temari couldn't believe her, not with how her eyes kept darting around the room as if looking for an exit.

"Did Fuu shove it in your face about how we kicked your asses?" she asked, drawing Temari's thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Actually, no," Temari admitted, "but she's very…outspoken."

Mito laughed. "That's an understatement. Wait until you meet Ino, I swear those two are related."

Temari wondered what had happened to her in the forest, but that wasn't her business; Mito was a shinobi of Konoha not Suna. They were sisters, not comrades.

* * *

"Naruto…hey…wake up."

Naruto could hear a familiar voice in the back of his mind.

"Maybe we should just hit him with something?" a second voice offered.

"That might cause him more brain damage," the first scoffed, "I'm not sure he can afford to lose anymore brain cells."

Naruto's eyes flashed open and he lunged for Shikamaru, startling him as he caught the dark-haired Genin's head under his arm in a headlock. "Shikamaru, you bastard! I've got brain cells!"

"Really?" Shikamaru grunted under his arm. "Could've fooled me."

Chouji sniggered as his friend finally managed to worm his way out of the headlock.

"What's your team even doing here?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Saving your team's ass," Chouji told him proudly as Shikamaru smirked.

"Eh?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion before looking around the clearing, which he didn't recognize. The last thing he remembered was that shinobi ramming his hand into his stomach where his seal was.

Team Ten was all there with Ino off to the side –dried blood streaking from her mouth to her chin and her hair shorter than he recalled–, helping the bowl-cut-headed boy Naruto remembered to be Rock Lee, who had totally kicked Sasuke's ass before the written exam (hehe, blackmail material), with two others on a tree branch that must have been his teammates.

"What happened?" he said blankly.

"A team from Oto tried to take on Sakura while you and Sasuke were asleep," Shikamaru informed him, jerking a nod towards where his teammates were sitting, and it seemed Ino wasn't the only one sporting a new hairdo; Sakura's hair now barely fell to her shoulders and her face was covered with bruises.

"They handed over their earth scroll after Sasuke broke both of the arms of one of the Oto-nin," Shikamaru added, eyeing Naruto's reaction to the words and blue eyes widened and a mouth gaped.

" _What?"_

He looked towards Sasuke, but his back was towards him, and then he remembered the weight of the transfigured kunai in his holster.

He pulled it out and cancelled the jutsu to reveal the heaven scroll.

Shikamaru arched an eyebrow, impressed by the blond's forethought as he pulled himself up to drag himself over to where his team was sitting and plop himself down.

"Where'd you get this?" Sakura asked, blinking owlishly as she took the scroll he'd offered.

Naruto grinned widely. "Where d'you think? I henge'd it when we first got it." Sasuke's eyebrows rose in surprise at that. "The other one was a fake."

Sakura stared at him. "Naruto…that's actually pretty clever."

Naruto preened under the praise.

* * *

"Is he here?"

"That would be telling," Mito smirked towards Kankurou as Matsuri and Fuu squabbled over the appropriate composition of the sample of snake venom they'd received from Mito (Temari sweatdropped at the pair, but what else was now?).

"Mito..."

"Good luck scaring him away," Mito sniggered, "he's seen me angry, and after that, well…" She gave a simple shrug.

Temari and Kankurou stilled hadn't caught sight of Mito's boyfriend. They knew the barest minimum; he had brown eyes, was a strategist, was the son of Mito's sensei, and had passed the first exam."

"Maybe he gotten taken out early on," Kankurou offered hopefully and Temari hide her chuckles as Mito glared at him.

"Shikamaru-kun's too clever for that," she scoffed before her eyes lit up and a wide grin brightened her face.

Temari and Kankurou looked to see the newest team cross the threshold. Kankurou recognized the girl, Ino, right away with her shining green eyes, but he wasn't familiar with her teammates. One was a boy with a chubby midsection and bandages around his arms. The other was dark-haired wearing a mesh shirt and grey vest.

"Shikamaru-kun!" Mito flung her arms around him with so much force that the dark-haired boy ended up crashing into a wall.

" _Ooh!"_ Temari winced. "That's got to hurt."

"Good," Kankurou snorted.

"You know, I was actually expecting you three to show up about five hours ago," Mito mentioned as she helped pull him into a standing position, apologetic as her boyfriend rubbed his back.

"We got a little sidetracked," Shikamaru said, "Naruto ran into some trouble."

"Oh?" Mito's eyes narrowed.

"What about you?" Shikamaru took in her appearance, focusing on the heavy half-circles under her eyes.

"Just a little snake venom," Mito said in a careless manner, or at least, it would seemed so to someone who didn't know her and know her history with snakes, which Shikamaru did. "You look battered."

"Do I?" Shikamaru seemed unperturbed.

"Just a little," Mito grinned before pulling him by the front of his vest to meet her lips. He ignored how Ino and Chouji laughed beside him as he kept one hand on the small of Mito's back.

" _Ohmigod!"_ A voice bellowed behind them and the pair jerked apart. "There are fucking minors here! Take it somewhere else, lovebirds!"

Mito turned to glare at Fuu who had covered Matsuri's eyes as though kissing was something too scandalous for her to see.

Kankurou was more than a little relieved even as Temari howled with laughter.


	21. Preliminary Fights

Of the twenty-seven teams that entered into the second part of the Chuunin Exams, only eight teams finished, and that was stunning to Kankurou from where he was standing behind Gaara. His team and Mito's were the ones with the least amount of wear, which would give them an edge…unless Mito ended up fighting against him or Temari, then they were screwed (and Kankurou didn't even want to think about what would happen if Mito ended up fighting against Gaara, that was just a bad idea waiting to happen).

But they would have to fight it out in a series of preliminaries, according to the next proctor, a man named Gekkou Hayate, since their number was greater than anticipated, even with one of the Konoha-nin withdrawing (a guy named Yakushi Kabuto who had looked at Mito a little too long for his liking and in a way that said she befuddled him; why, Kankurou couldn't be sure).

"I've got a question, Hayate-san!" Matsuri piped up, waving her hand in the air and peering around Fuu to look at the man with a smile. Kankurou surmised she knew him; perhaps he was a patient of hers?

"Matsuri-san?" Hayate gestured her to continue.

"There's an uneven number of us," Matsuri pointed out. "With one on one match-ups…won't someone have to fight twice?"

There were murmurs following that.

" _What?"_ The girl from the only Oto team growled. "Someone's fighting twice?"

"Yes," Hayate said, unperturbed, "and that person has already been chosen. Senju Mito will be fighting two times."

Mito's lips curled upwards into a slight smile as several people started. Shikamaru rolled his eyes at the ceiling and Mito full-on grinned in response, elbowing him in the side. Kankurou was never going to understand that silent language of theirs.

"Best hope you don't have to fight me, Shikamaru-kun," She said with a wink, "It'd be a pity to tell Yoshino-san how quickly I kicked your ass."

He grumbled and Kankurou could have sworn he uttered, "Troublesome woman," but he couldn't be entirely sure.

"As there are a total of twenty-three combatants remaining and with Senju Mito battling twice, that results in a total of twelve bouts," Hayate told them all, "those victors will advance to the third exam. This is no-holds-barred combat, you will fight until one of you is dead, unconscious, or forfeits."

"Since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands," he added, "there may be cases where we ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the match, but don't count on that."

A thumb was jerked back towards the electric screen that was revealed above the statue of the hands in a typical hand seal. "At the start of each round, we will display the names of the two combatants competing in that match…We will begin by revealing the first two names."

All the eyes shifted to the board which had begun to beep, running through names so fast that the kanji blurred together.

Then it dinged and two names were shown: Akadou Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked, despite the irritation and pain the mark on his shoulder caused him.

"Those whose names are displayed, step forward," Hayate intoned and the pair maneuvered through the line-up, "everyone other than the two fighters please move to the upper gallery."

Fuu stretched her hands to the ceiling as she led Team One towards the stairs, clumping in with everyone else.

"Too bad," she grinned towards Mito as they took a spot beside Asuma's team and Shikaku leaned against the wall feigning interest. "If I'd gotten him, he would've gotten his ass seriously handed to him."

Mito's lips twitched slightly as Fuu's arrogant words and Ino hid her giggles as Matsuri gave a mournful sigh. Mito was almost certain that Fuu wouldn't become a Chuunin after this exam, but that was her opinion, which she kept to herself.

"What do you think?" She asked Shikamaru who had propped an elbow onto the railing to hold up his chin, the bored expression on his face hadn't changed.

"I think exhaustion is going to put Sasuke at a disadvantage," he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And that bruise on his neck seems to be causing him the most pain, so Akadou could go for that spot."

Mito drew something out of her pouch and Shikamaru glanced to see it was a simple marker, like the one used in surgeries to mark the location of where they would cut into. She scrawled something on her palm in the purple marker and showed it him.

It was three tomoe in a circle, much like the magatama patterned against Mito's arm.

He frowned, looking at her and tapping a spot on his neck. _You saw that on his neck?_

Mito nodded, but they were both distracted when a finger flicked Shikamaru's ponytail and tugged on a stray red lock from Mito's head and both turned to look at Shikaku.

"That," he said, "is a private manner."

Shikamaru and Mito shared a glance before Mito shrugged, turning back to the battle that had commenced when she hadn't been looking in time to see Sasuke kick Yoroi away from him, the latter's hand glowing with chakra as he rushed forward again and Sasuke dodged his attacks.

Mito's eyebrows drew together. Had his stint in the forest wiped him out that completely? Naruto seemed to have recovered well and Sakura appeared only to be tired.

"Sasuke! You call yourself an Uchiha!" Naruto yelled from above, stamping his feet in aggravation.

Sasuke's eyes shifted upwards to where Naruto was standing.

"Stop acting like an idiot! Get serious!"

His eyes moved to the Genin standing beside Naruto, Rock Lee, and he thought about the technique he had used to thoroughly school him before the start of the first exam…Yes, that could work.

Yoroi dived forward, his chakra-ladened hand outstretched when Sasuke ducked down to fire a kick towards his chin, knocking him upwards.

"Another reason not to show off any techniques in front of a Sharingan user," Mito said.

Chouji looked over at her and thought she looked more than a little annoyed by Sasuke's technique as Sasuke collided Yoroi with the stone ground.

Only a few had noticed the marks spreading across his skin a few moments beforehand.

"Winner of the first match: Uchiha Sasuke!"

It took a short while for the Medic-nin to remove Yoroi and for Kakashi to drag Sasuke out after him before the next match-up was displayed.

Fuu's eyes widened.

"Senju Mito vs. Fuu! Would both combatants please step forward!" Hayate called.

"You sure these aren't rigged?" Fuu asked him as she stood opposite of Mito who rested one hand on her hip.

"I can assure you they're not," he said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," both girls said.

" _Begin!"_

They both settled into identical stances, lunging forward to collide in a flurry of chakra.

" _Whoa!"_ Tenten uttered. "They're so fast!"

Lee had to agree from beside her. That speed was something.

Fuu's kick sent Mito skidding backwards and Fuu clasped her hands together, channeling her chakra until it encircled her completely.

"What the hell is coming out of her back?" Kiba demanded, goggling at the Taki-born shinobi, and a moment later it became so much clearer.

They were wings of an insect made of what appeared to be a flimsy orange material, and she hovered in the air as they buzzed continuously behind her.

Choumei's aftereffects were clear to see and Mito couldn't help but release a short sigh, someone hadn't been listening to her when she said to practice in a monitored setting.

"You just love making my life difficult, don't you?" Mito sighed as Fuu ran through a series of hand signs.

" **Suiton: Suidanha (Water Release: Water Severing Wave)!"**

A high pressure stream of water flew from her mouth towards Mito's head, and would have gone right through if Mito hadn't ducked to avoid it.

She made to move forward, but her breath caught and she choked, coughing a bit of blood onto the ground.

"What happened?" Kankurou asked Temari. "She didn't get hit, did she?"

"No," Temari agreed, frowning slightly, "maybe it's a preexisting injury." She remembered Mito in the hospital wing, insisting nothing was wrong.

Shikaku's eyes narrowed and Shikamaru's hands clenched around the railing.

Fuu, never one to not take an opportunity to best her sensei, shot forward, her tantou in her hand and there was an explosion of smoke that cleared to reveal Mito locking Fuu to the ground with her legs, the girl's captured tantou at its owner's throat.

The orange-eyed girl scowled as her wings faded. "I forfeit," she was with clear distaste and Mito removed her knife with a grin.

"Winner: Senju Mito!"

Mito's chest contracted slightly and she gritted her teeth, keeping from coughing.

"Maa, Mito, you alright?"

"I'm fine," Mito said with difficulty, her stomach roiling, but what she didn't realize was that the effects weren't centralized to stomach at all, but each individual cell.

She swiped the blood from her face as they climbed the stairs and Orochimaru, in his guise as an Oto Jounin looked on silently. It seemed hardly possibly that she could have survived the amount of venom injected into her bloodstream, but he'd underestimated the daughter of his old teammate. It was more likely that the venom acted as a catalyst that activated Senju Hashirama's DNA that he'd injected into her; that could prove problematic.

Mito sat down heavily, closing her eyes.

"That wasn't you, was it?" Matsuri asked Fuu.

"You're kidding, right?" Fuu scoffed. "I barely landed a hit…I've got no idea what that was."

"Is she gonna be alright?" Naruto asked Shikaku apprehensively as he knelt in front of his apprentice, looking at her closely.

"I'm sure she just needs her rest, Naruto," he said.

Mito drifted off rather quickly, considering how much sleep she got the previous night only to jerk awake suddenly at the sound of Matsuri cheering.

"Back with the living?" Shikamaru asked her, glancing back from the railing to where she was leaning against the wall.

Mito rubbed her eyes, blinking them a few times, looking down at herself, wishing she could see through skin and bone, but the burning sensation had faded…maybe it hadn't been as serious as she was considering.

She groaned. "I didn't seriously fall asleep, did I?"

"You missed two matches," Shikamaru told her, nodding his head in agreement to her question. "Shino versus that Oto guy, Zaku, –Shino won, by the way– and your brother –the older one– against a Konoha-nin, a guy named Misumi."

Mito pulled herself up, squeezing onto the rail beside him. "Did Nii-san win?"

"Of course," Shikamaru drawled, "you Suna-nin are _crazy."_

She grinned widely. "Shikamaru-kun, you really know how to flatter a girl."

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled as his father coughed behind them and both of their cheeks flushed.

"Maybe keep the flirting for later," he advised and Mito hid her face behind her hand.

"This is what I get for dating my sensei's son," she muttered to herself and Shikamaru actually laughed.

"Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura! Come down here!"

Ino blinked in surprise before grinning eagerly; _at last! A chance to show her stuff!_

"You don't know how much I've been looking forward to this," Ino said, cracking her knuckles.

That wide grin of hers irritated Sakura greatly, but it didn't matter, she had gotten stronger, and she had always been better than Ino.

"You better get ready for a serious kunoichi battle, Sakura," she continued, "because that's all you're gonna get."

"I should say the same to you, Ino-pig," Sakura sneered.

" _Begin!"_

Sakura moved first, racing forward, while Ino went on the offensive, leaping several spaces back, her eyes narrowing.

Sarutobi was impressed and surprised. She was scouting out her enemy…a good trait for a Chuunin. He glanced up to meet Mito's eyes. She winked, signing to him in the typical ANBU sign language, _you'll want to watch her closely._

Every kick and punch aimed at Ino was skillfully evaded.

"That's impressive," Tenten said from in front of Gai. "Those evasive maneuvers…I've never seen them before…she's almost moving too fast."

"Those moves are ones specifically geared towards Medic-nin," Lee recognized, "aren't they, Gai-sensei?"

"Indeed, they are," Gai agreed, "She must have close ties with a medic-nin to have learned them."

"Or just one in particular," Neji said, his eyes falling on Mito who was watching the match avidly.

Sakura cart wheeled back, pulling out three kunai from her pouch and throwing them all at different closely timed intervals towards her rival.

But then Ino had snatched them out of the air faster than she could blink. "What the—?"

"Come on, Sakura," Ino drawled out, "you didn't think I was sitting on my ass for six months, did you? If that's the best you've got, then you've already lost."

Kankurou watched the blonde intently. He'd never seen her fight before and they'd only met once, but she was _good._

Rage boiled under her skin at the insult. _Time to get really serious,_ she thought. And then she did something that Ino did not expect; she tied her hitai-ate around her forehead.

That only made Ino smirk more. "The only thing that'll do is protect your obnoxious forehead, but I suppose that's the most like a kunoichi you've ever looked…"

Ino spread her feet apart, positioning his arms before her.

Temari stared. "Isn't that…Mito's style?"

Kankurou nodded, wincing. Mito's hand-to-hand to brutal enough without having an opponent you clearly outmatched.

Sakura raced forward, rushing through hand signs to create two simple clones, channeling her chakra evenly between the two.

Unfortunately, it didn't take much for Ino to spot the real one (honestly, she _was_ a Sensory-type). She caught the fist aimed at her face as the clones dispelled.

"How did you know?" Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Who did you think Mito was teaching? Just Fuu and Matsuri?" Ino scoffed. _"Please."_

She pushed her back and released her trapped fist and Sakura began again, but Ino drew her short by a powerful punch to her midsection that sent her flying, crumpling against the wall.

"Maa, you can keep the Uchiha," Ino told her old friend's unconscious form.

"Winner: Yamanaka Ino!"

Ino beamed at the sound of Team One and Team Ten's combined cheers (Shikamaru seemed very put-upon and his cheers were half-hearted, but Ino didn't mind).

"Asuma-sensei! I did it!"

She threw her arms around her Jounin sensei as soon as she got close enough, still flushed from her victory.

"Yes, you did," Asuma chuckled. "It was a very impressive battle, Ino."

"Great job," Mito added, leaning over the railing to be seen. "I was impressed too."

Ino's grin threatened to split her face.

"Sabaku no Temari and Tenten, please come down!"

"Talk about an unfortunate pairing," Mito laughed, earning Lee's attention. "Temari's got this one in the bag."

Shikamaru's eyes flicked over Mito's older sister, taking note of the heavy tessen strapped to her back, and tessen were only used in conjunction with Fuuton jutsu.

"You are wrong!" Lee declared adamantly. "I know Tenten, she will not lose!"

"And I know my sister," Mito replied, arching an eyebrow, "she's going to beat your teammate into the ground."

The match began and Tenten leapt back to create distance between them, flinging several shuriken, but they fell to the ground several inches short of Temari.

"I'm going to go with Mito on this one," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "Suna wins again."

"Mito, why is everyone you're related to strong?" Chouji asked her.

"Eh?" Mito jabbed a thumb towards Naruto. "You remember I'm distantly related to him, don't you?"

"Mito-chan! How can you say that?!" Naruto whined as they laughed at his expense. "Shikaku-oji—"

"I'm not getting into this," Shikaku said, giving his wife's godson a lazy stare.

Naruto grumbled to himself and Mito sniggered.

The battle was very one-sided in Mito's opinion and no matter how many weapons Tenten threw at Temari, the result was still the same, and a simple **Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel Technique)** knocked her unconscious, thus giving Temari the win.

The board dinged out a new pair of names and Matsuri groaned. "This is so unfair!"

"Matsuri and Senju Mito, front and center!"

Matsuri gulped as she stood across from her sensei. Of course, she'd fought her sensei a number of times since she'd been apprenticed to her, just like Fuu, but also like Fuu, there was the impending knowledge that she was about to get her ass handed to her on a platter in front of everyone.

She'd left her gourd beside Fuu up on the balcony since it made her a bit off center with her Taijutsu, and was going to need to be on-center for that.

" _Begin!"_

Their wrists clashed as they each blocked opposing strikes and then their legs, it seemed like every strike Matsuri made was countered by Mito.

Aggravation was clear on Matsuri's face and she brought her heel down, aiming for Mito's shoulder and instead colliding with the ground which cracked with the force of the hit.

Mito thrust her hands against the ground. **"Doton: Tsuchi Name no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique)!"**

The ground became uneven and Matsuri stumbled back as it took on wave-like proportions. She didn't notice how Mito had briefly frozen, feeling as though the ground had a texture not unlike wood.

Then she lurched forward to throw her fist against Matsuri's cheek, cracking her sand armor.

"What the hell—?" Kiba gaped above. "What's wrong with her skin?"

Matsuri kicked away from Mito, breathless and her cheek aching. And her leg was going numb.

She looked down and blinked blankly at what she saw.

It was her dart sticking into her calf.

"When did you—?" Matsuri blinked blearily, falling to her knees as she ripped it out of her leg. "I-I don't—"

Her eyes fluttered closed and she fell back.

"Winner…again—" Mito threw a smirk towards Hayate as she hefted her apprentice over her shoulder. "Senju Mito."

"Admit it, I impressed you," Mito added once she was back beside Shikamaru again.

"You say that like I don't know how you strategize," Shikamaru replied dryly, and he surprised her by kissing her cheek.

Mito grinned widely and then the next names were called out. "Tsuchi Kin and Nara Shikamaru, come down!"

"Your dad is watching, but no pressure," Mito winked as Shikamaru groaned, glancing towards where his father was leaning against the wall.

Shikamaru grimaced at the thought of disappointing his father.

"Would you feel better if I stepped out, Shikamaru?" He asked.

"Yes," Shikamaru said honestly, "but don't bother, it's too troublesome."

And then he loped down to join the Oto-nin female from the forest that Ino had caught in her Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique).

"Shikamaru! Don't lose!" Ino cheered loudly. "Show us that you're a man!"

His cheeks reddened and he turned around to glare at Ino as Mito laughed loudly and Fuu guffawed and Chouji tried to keep from laughing at his best friend so much that his whole face had turned red. His father had a lopsided smile and his sensei a smirk.

"Will you pipe down!" he grated.

"Kick some ass, Shikamaru-kun!" Mito yelled, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Wipe the floor with her!"

"Might want to shut your girlfriend up," Kin said, adding a scornful annunciation to the word girlfriend, "before she sees _me_ wipe the floor with _you._ "

"No one shuts Mito up," he said with a bored tone, "and if you tried, you'd probably lose a hand."

Inwardly he was annoyed –not about the comment about Mito, since she was mostly unfazed about others' attitude towards her. _Of course he would end up fighting her._

Of the Oto trio, the only one whose jutsu he didn't see was hers and even worse, she got a good look at his. Shikamaru expelled a low sigh, oh well…

" _Begin!"_

Shikamaru's hand formed into his clan's single-signed Hiden jutsu. **"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)!"**

"Just a one-trick pony? How lame," Kin snorted as the shadow moved across the ground towards her, moving back and to the side to avoid it before drawing two senbon and throwing them towards him.

But Shikamaru easily ducked to avoid them and they lodged in the wall behind him with a faint jingle.

_Bells…?_

A smirk painted across his lips. "Talk about using an old trick," he said, "I suppose next you'll be flinging your senbon in groupings of two, one with a bell and one without a bell, to mislead me into thinking I'm safe once I've dodged the ones I can hear, until the silent ones perforate me, right?"

"You're talkative," Kin replied with a smirk, raising a hand and Shikamaru prepared for another round of senbon when the bells dangling from the ones lodged behind him suddenly jingled.

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise as he twisted violently to look over his shoulder to where the bells were jingling. What? How could they still be jingling? Then his eyes caught sight of the thin thread attached to the bells.

_Oh, crap!_

"Too late!" she yelled as she threw her senbon and they collided with him, causing him to fall to the ground.

Shikaku watched the match impassively, having a rough idea of what his son had up his sleeve.

"Eh? I gave you a vital hit!" Kin was aghast as Shikamaru pulled himself upright, the senbon still lodged in his arm.

Shikamaru gave her a dry look. "My girlfriend is a Medic-nin on a team of Medic-nin and my teammate is a Medic-nin, you pick up things about where the body is most vulnerable pretty quickly." He shrugged. "It's easy to make it look like a direct hit, though."

She growled and Mito laughed from above, but then she found that she couldn't move.

"What?" she gasped. "I-I can't move."

" **Kagemane no Justsu** …success," Shikamaru intoned as he straightened and she did with him.

"Whoa!" Chouji said in surprise. He hadn't even seen his friend throw the jutsu after it failed.

"What are you talking about?" Kin snapped. "Your shadow isn't anywhere near me!"

"Maa, you really don't get it do you?" Shikamaru asked, yawning widely. "Take a look at your threads…didn't you think it was strange that they could cast a shadow from their height?"

As he spoke, the thin shadow that had run parallel to the threads began to steadily thicken around her.

"I can stretch and shrink my shadow as I see fit, and now—" He raised an arm forward and she did the same. "—I'm attached to you."

And then he dropped his arm and removed a shuriken from his holster as she did the same.

Her dark eyes widened. "Don't be stupid, anything done to me will happen to you!"

"Tch," Shikamaru scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know!"

He bent himself and positioned the hand holding the shuriken, ready to throw. "It's a head-to-head shuriken attack, I doubt you'll hold up for long!"

"No, _you idiot—!"_ Kin snapped as they both released their throwing stars.

Shikamaru bent backwards to avoid his at the same time as Kin, only her head collided with the wall with a loud crack whilst Shikamaru ended up in a backbend that he quickly flipped out of.

"A wise shinobi uses everything to his advantage including the terrain," Shikamaru said with a smirk.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru!"

The first thing that happened when he got back to his team was Ino wrenching the senbon out of his arms.

" _Ow!_ Woman, are you _trying_ to kill me!"

"Ah, don't worry Shikamaru, you're made of tougher stuff than that!"

"I don't know…"

"Gee, thanks, Chouji," Shikamaru drawled as his father ruffled his ponytail fondly and the boy made a face that Mito knew he didn't mean.

She shook her head and looked down at Matsuri who was still sleeping on.

"Maa, that drug is really potent," Fuu mused.

"Well, it's supposed to knock you out for a week," Mito conceded, bending down to loop the Suna shinobi's body over her shoulder. "But we might as well speed up the process."

She gave her sensei a lazy salute before they entered into the outside hallway, laying Matsuri gently on the ground as she extended her hands, glowing and green over her stomach.

"I suppose she's got the antidote back at the compound," Mito mused as she worked on breaking it down from within.

"She should be fine, shouldn't she?" Fuu asked apprehensively. "I mean…it's not going to damage her or anything, is it?"

"No," Mito agreed as two Medic-nin made their way towards them with a stretcher between them, "but she's going to be sluggish, and that'll bother her more."

Fuu laughed as the Medic-nin lifted the brunette onto the stretcher.

"Start an IV drip," Mito told them, "but she's not seriously injured."

"Yes, Mito-sama."

"Do you ever get over how respectful those Medic-nin are?" Fuu asked her once they'd gone.

Mito shrugged. "I've cleared a whole street just by walking down it because I'm that 'demon girl' so I think I like this better."

Fuu eyed her in contemplation. She remembered her own treatment in Taki and it hadn't been pleasant, to say the least. It had always seemed like every mission she'd been sent on was meant to fail.

She could only assume that her village leader had sold her out to the Akatsuki to get rid of her presence.

"It's funny isn't it?"

"Funny?" Mito said blankly. "How so?"

"I mean…we're meant to be weapons for our villages, but they treat us like scum," Fuu frowned. "If I'd been treated kindly, I probably would have been more loyal to Taki."

"Humans have a strange way of thinking," Mito said, her eyes distant.

Fuu thought that was an odd way to speak, as though she had distanced herself from viewing herself as human, but perhaps that was partially Shukaku talking.

"We should get back," Mito said decisively, her thoughts coming back to the present. "I think its Naruto's…judging by the yells."

Fuu winced an eye shut, tugging on her ear. "Your cousin has a set of lungs on him."

Mito smirked as they entered onto the balcony just in time to see Naruto leap towards Kiba, kicking him right in the face so that the boy spat blood.

Kiba caught himself on his legs and whipped out shuriken in the junctions between his fingers, and then he flung them all forward, forcing Naruto to dodge wildly.

" **Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!"** Kiba uttered as he raced forward on all fours, his jutsu accelerating his speed as Naruto grabbed something from within his back pouch.

Kiba twisted to make a surprise attack from Naruto's back when he dropped what he'd taken from his pouch.

The pair disappeared in a thick cloud of smoke and nearly everyone covered their noses.

The smell was perhaps the foulest thing Mito had smelled.

" _Ew!"_ Ino said, her voice coming out nasally as she pinched her nose. "What the hell was that?"

"Stink bomb," Chouji supplied helpfully.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru complained as Sakura gagged.

The smoke cleared to reveal Naruto standing over Kiba's unconscious body, breathing heavily, his body shaking with strain.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Wait to go!" Sakura cheered loudly for her teammate, startling several people by the noise. After her match's end, Kakashi had brought her up to the balcony, letting her rouse naturally, and it seemed Ino's attack had finally worn off (or perhaps it was the stink).

Naruto was exuberant when he came up the stairs, laughing and swinging around Hinata when he reached her side and the first thing the Hyuuga did was blush bright red (a rarity since she'd grown accustomed to his presence).

"Going to the finals! Going to the finals!"

He was practically singing.

Mito muffled her amusement and Kakashi smirked behind his mask as Shikaku ruffled the blonde's hair.

"The next match will be Hyuuga Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji!"

Hinata started in surprise and trepidation and Neji's face darkened, but they both went down to the arena.

Neji's eyes were fierce, like fire, and Hinata's were solemn and reflective like water.

"I never dreamed we'd find ourselves fighting each other, Hinata-sama," Neji said coldly.

"Nor I, Neji-nii-san," Hinata spoke quietly, but loud enough to be heard.

"Huh?" Naruto started. "He's her brother? But I thought she only had one sibling, a sister!"

"Both are members of the Hyuuga clan," Kakashi told him, "but they're not brother and sister."

"Then…how are they related?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"They're cousins," Mito said. "Hinata and Hanabi are the daughters of Hiashi-sama of the Hyuuga's main family, whereas Neji is the son of Hiashi-sama's brother, Hizashi-san."

"Main family? Branch family?" Sakura asked flummoxed. "I don't understand. If they're family then why does Neji-san look like he wants her dead?"

"He probably does," Ino snorted humorlessly, _"prick."_

"The first generation of the Hyuuga clan made all sorts of rules and decrees that favored the main family in order to preserve the family line and retain the purity of their blood," surprisingly Lee informed them all. "It's said that members of the branch family still burn with anger and humiliation."

"That's only part of the problem," Mito said, crossing her arms, her eyes fixed on the pair as the match began and Neji attempted to deter Hinata to no avail (though Mito admired his attempt, which consisted of a long list of insults to her as a weakness in the Hyuuga clan.

"What's the other part?" Naruto asked after cheering Hinata on for good measure.

"He blames her father for his father's death," Mito said blandly as the veins beside their eyes bulged out slightly as their Byakugan activated and they struck at each other.

"Isn't that like Mito-san's fighting style?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Juuken, the Hyuuga style, and Goken, the strong fist, were the two fighting styles I used to create Tanuki style," Mito had to agree. "Hinata could use Tanuki if she wanted in this fight, but I think she's going to stick with Juuken."

"Wouldn't Tanuki give her an edge, though?" Chouji asked, following the two who were striking and blocking each hit from each other that it was almost like watching Matsuri and Mito's match from earlier.

"That's not the point," Shikamaru drawled in a sigh.

"It's not?" Sakura asked. "What's the point?"

He fixed her with a tired stare. "She wants to prove she's not as weak as he thinks she is."

"And this Juuken…is it really that damaging? They don't seem to be hurting each other very much."

"That's 'cos they're aiming for the tenketsu."

"That's very good, Naruto, I'm impressed!" Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, giving him a smile.

"I'm not stupid!" Naruto sulked. "Hinata-chan's my best friend, she told me all about her family's jutsu."

"You are so dense," Shikamaru muttered.

" _Hey!"_

"Better that then stupid," Ino reminded him with a wink and Chouji put his whole fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.

"But tenketsu…?" Sakura prompted. Her stint in the Forest of Death had softened her dislike towards Mito and Mito wasn't sure she'd spoken so civilly to her in a long time.

"The tenketsu are chakra points and there are three hundred sixty-one of them and they're incredibly small, hitting them is no easy task, but if you do, you can halt chakra flow," Mito explained. "The Byakugan is the only thing that can see them."

Hinata's open palm collided with Neji's chest, but it was she that coughed blood onto the floor.

Mito's hands clenched around the railing tightly as Hinata threw his arm aside to make another strike when his two fingers stabbed into her forearm, revealing the many already pressed tenketsu.

"He's fast," Ino admitted grudgingly as Hinata was thrown back.

And then she did something Mito did not anticipate; she clasped her hands together and positioned her legs squarely apart.

_Mito looked over the diagrams as Hinata hovered beside her eagerly awaiting her thoughts on the new jutsu._

" _Hinata, this is…I'm very impressed with your work on this."_

" _You hate it," Hinata realized regretfully._

" _I'm not saying that it wouldn't be beneficial if someone's tenketsu were pressed," Mito assured her, "its just that the amount of force and chakra to reopen them –and all at the same time, too– could seriously damage the tenketsu to the point the person using the jutsu might not be able to use chakra again."_

" _I'm declaring this jutsu a Kinjutsu."_

"Hinata, no!" she yelled, startling her friends by the horror in her voice. "Don't you dare use that jutsu! You could kill yourself—!"

But Hinata ignored her, focusing her chakra inwardly and then propelling it all outwards all at once.

Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth and breathing became difficult, but Hinata tried not to focus on them as she began again.

Her movements were sluggish and slow; the jutsu had clearly drained her, but she didn't stop. No matter what, she didn't stop, not until more of her blood had spilled across the floor and her legs were so numb that she could no longer move them.

"You're wrong, Neji-nii-san," she said to him, her words weak in her throat, "I can see it now…that even more than me…it is you who are torn and suffering…caught between the destinies of the main family and the branch family of our clan."

Her words incensed him, that was clear on his face, and when he rushed forward, it was certainly for the kill.

It was only through the intervention of Hayate, Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, and Shikaku (as evident by his shadow holding the Genin in place) that he was kept from doing so.

Hinata fell to her knees.

" _Hinata!"_

Kurenai was at her side in an instant, but she was pushed back by Mito who moved forward to place her chakra-glowing hands over her chest.

"Mi-to-sa-an?" Hinata's breaths were haggard and her eyes were barely open.

"Try not to talk," Mito warned her, giving her a smile that was the fakest Kurenai had seen yet. "Keep your eyes open, alright?"

"Hinata-chan, stay awake!"

She could barely hear Naruto's voice, but it calmed her, and then her eyes fell shut.

" _I need a damn stretcher!"_ Mito shouted before turning towards the balcony. "Fuu, Ino, over here, now!"

They would have to rush her into surgery if there was any hope of repairing the damage to her heart, but even that would be close, but Mito was determined not to lose another friend to the cold hands of death.


	22. An Assortment of Difficulties

Mito had done a number of surgeries and she certainly wasn't afraid of blood covering her hands, however, this time it was different.

This time it was Hinata's life that was in her hands; any slip-up could result in her friend's death.

The gloves that covered her hands had long since been stained red as she, Ino, and Fuu attempted to heal the shredded blood vessels that led into Hinata's heart, decreasing the amount of blood pumping through her body.

Mito gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, her chakra flaring brighter. She didn't even notice the Medic-nin beside her wiping the sweat from her brow, keeping her eyes clear.

Her pager made a beep and one of the other Medic-nin checked.

"Mito-sama—"

"Find out what it's all about," Mito snapped, her attention not even wavering from in front of her. "Go, _now!"_

Senju Mito had an imposing presence enough when she wasn't in the middle of a surgery fighting to save her friend's life, so the Medic-nin opted to scamper off.

The vessel Mito had been working on had finally knit itself back together and Mito released a breath.

"Mito-sama." The Medic-nin had returned, anxiety in his voice at interrupting her. "Genin Rock Lee has had his arm and leg crushed by sand."

Ino looked up suddenly, her eyes owlish and it was a testament to how great her Medical Ninjutsu ability was that she chakra-covered hands did not waver.

Mito then did something she didn't usually do; she swore. Loudly.

"Fuu," she very nearly snarled like Shukaku and Fuu jumped, "you go and deal with Lee-san. I'll take over for you."

Orange eyes met violet and Fuu understood; but Medical Ninjutsu standards, she was the weakest of the three with Mito and Ino training far longer than her.

She removed her hands and Mito's quickly replaced hers as Fuu went into the back room to remove her now-a-biohazard gloves and scrub down.

It seemed like an age had passed before Mito ordered one of the Medic-nin to close Hinata up.

"You look like you're going to pass out," Ino commented as they ride themselves of the surgeon gown they'd thrown over their clothes. Mito didn't bother to point out that Ino looked much the same.

"I'll be fine," Mito disagreed, waving her off. "Can you go and check on Hinata and help the others get her situated in the room, there's something I need to do."

The ring Gaara had given her and long since been reduced to the sand it was formed from and Mito sighed, frowning heavily.

Ino disappeared from the room as Mito bound her upper arm with a strap of rubber, tying it there with just her teeth and her spare hand. She removed a syringe attached to a small bottle about half the size of her thumb.

It was used for blood testing, which was what she needed it for.

She inserted it carefully into her vein and pulled back the plunger, causing red to fill the small bottle

Mito removed the syringe and taped gauze over the spot on her arm and secured the bottle of blood, writing a few details on its side before pulling the lab coat over her shoulders.

Walking out into the hall, she first saw the person she'd been looking for.

"Miki-san," she said, and the young woman looked up from her clipboard. Miki was older than her with kind pale green eyes and a head of dark hair bound in a high ponytail.

"Mito-sama," Miki smiled. "Is there something you need?"

Mito held out of the small bottle of blood. "I need this tested for Kekkei Genkai markers," she said simply.

Miki nodded in understanding, jotting a few notes onto her clipboard. "And whose blood is it?"

"Mine."

Green eyes blinked and Miki looked up from the clipboard, glancing between her and the bottle.

"Mito-sama, I don't understand—"

"Just do me a favor and run it," Mito sighed. "I've got a feeling it'll be different."

"Alright, then." Miki blinked as Mito moved past her to be joined by Ino.

"She's still stable," Ino told her, "we've moved her to the west wing."

Mito nodded approvingly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Let's go face the fire."

And then they pushed the ER room doors open and Ino thought facing the fire was an apt assumption.

The remnants of Teams Eight, Seven, Ten (which was just Shikamaru; Mito wondered what happened to Chouji), and Tenten of Team Gai all accosted them once they left. Mito could feel a headache growing in the side of her head.

"You deal with them," Mito sighed, "I've got Hinata's father."

Ino rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but she found she preferred dealing with her year-mates than dealing with Hinata's imposing father.

"Hiashi-sama."

The Hyuuga Head's face was stony and his eyes solemn and his youngest child sat beside him. Hanabi was far more expressive than her father, much like Hinata in that aspect, and Mito knew just how fond she was of her older sister, even though she'd ceded the title of Heiress to the Hyuuga Clan after Hinata defeated her soundly some months ago.

Hanabi looked more like her father with his long dark brown hair and serious eyes, but today her face was lined with worry and she stirred restlessly in her seat.

"Mito-sama," Hiashi intoned. "How is she?"

Mito dropped her hands into the stiff pockets of her lab coat with a sigh leaving her lips. "The vessels around Hinata's heart were shredded quite extensively, Hiashi-sama," she told him gravely and Hanabi stiffened.

"We managed to repair the vessels and get her blood circulating properly," Mito said, "but it's the tenketsu that worry me more…were you aware your daughter invented a Kinjutsu based on the Juuken?"

A muscle jumped in Hiashi's jaw. "No," he said, "I wasn't."

"It involves firing chakra through closed tenketsu, forcing them to open after they have been pressed closed," Mito explained and his eyes widened in surprise. "However, the negative effects of the jutsu are too great and the damage to the tenketsu is significant."

"W-Will Nee-chan be able to use chakra again?" Hanabi asked, her voice weak and her eyes wide.

"I hope she will," Mito said, glancing towards the seven year old Hyuuga, "but the rehabilitation process will be long and we want to make sure she gets full use of all her tenketsu. As soon as her heart heals enough we'll begin working on her tenketsu…it might take anywhere from weeks to months. You can see her when the nurse comes."

"Thank you, Mito-sama. We are in your debt."

He bowed his head lowly and Mito knew he spoke not only of his daughter but of his brother, still unconscious and under guard.

"Think nothing of it, Hiashi-sama," Mito said with a slight smile. "I'm sure one day you will think of a way to repay me."

"I'll be her chakra."

"Hm?" Mito blinked down at the smaller Hyuuga. "What was that, Hanabi-san?"

Hanabi's eyes glinted like steel. "I'll be Nee-chan's chakra for her!"

" _Kaa-chan's Medical Ninjutsu isn't lost! I'll carry on for her!"_

Mito smiled fondly at the declaration and the jumbled wording (as no one could really _be_ chakra). "I'm sure you'll be a fine addition, Hanabi-san."

"I want to see her," Naruto insisted, seconded shortly after by Kiba and –a bit more quietly– Shino.

" _Absolutely not_ ," Mito snapped. "I'm not having you undo all the work Ino, Fuu, and I put into fixing her heart."

Naruto balked.

"She's stable. For now. If you want to visit her, you'll need to wait at least a week," Mito said, teetering almost unnoticeably on her two feet.

Exhaustion was almost overtaking her when she felt a hand on the small of her back and then she closed her eyes.

She opened them to find she was in the guest room at the Nara compound that had once been hers.

Mito blinked blearily and rubbed her eyes as she sat up with a groan.

She just knew she'd used up too much chakra on that surgery…maybe she should've gone along with Shukaku and used some of his, but oh well…

Her fingers raked through her wild hair as she stumbled into the bathroom for use of the toilet and to wash her face.

"Finally awake?" was the way Shikamaru greeted her.

Mito arched an eyebrow as she stepped into the kitchen as her boyfriend rifled through the fridge. There were grass blades tangled in his ponytail.

"Coming from someone who was napping in the forest again?"

Shikamaru didn't look up, but Mito knew that if he had, his expression wouldn't have been the least bit embarrassed.

"How long was I asleep?" Mito frowned at the clock only to realize she hadn't even known the time she'd left the preliminary exam arena.

"About two hours," Shikamaru muttered. "Nearly the same for me, I think. Ino passed out a few seconds before you, Asuma took her home."

Mito blinked and stared at his back. "Did you carry me all the way home?"

Shikamaru didn't remark on how she more closely considered his family's compound more of a home than hers (granted, the Senju compound was ominously silent and oppressive).

"You're not very heavy."

Mito released a short laugh at the blunt words. "Just what every girl wants to hear, Shikamaru-kun!"

He grunted, pulling back from the fridge to pull back a few marinating mackerel with a note from his mother.

_Cook these for me, Shika, and you can eat one! –Kaa-chan_

He sweatdropped. The things his mother did to get him to cook.

"How do you feel about mackerel for lunch?" he asked Mito who was perched on the table.

Mito grinned widely. "What if I wanted boiled eggs?"

Shikamaru gagged; he hated boiled eggs. "Then you're cooking them and eating them yourself," he said, disgusted.

"Mackerel is fine," Mito assured him, still smiling. "I'll cook up some rice?"

She didn't even wait for his answer, already reaching for a pot and the cupboard that held the rice.

For a moment, neither of them spoke and all that was heard was the sizzling of the mackerel and the simmering of water.

"I'm fighting your troublesome sister in the finals," Shikamaru told her.

Mito's eyebrows rose and she smirked. "Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you –she's not going to go easy on you because of me."

Shikamaru sighed. "Of course not…troublesome."

"She's good with tactics –not as good as me, or you, obviously (Mito didn't see the pleased grin that graced his lips at the compliment)– but it's her Fuuton jutsu you want to look out for."

"Great," Shikamaru drawled. "And you're fighting Ino."

"Oh, that's nice."

Shikamaru sniggered and Mito drained the water from the pan, leaving only the rice.

"Your brother stopped by earlier," he added as an afterthought.

"Kankurou?" Mito blinked in surprise, turning towards him, neither noticing the sound of the front door opening as Yoshino arrived home.

"I don't think he likes me very much," Shikamaru told her.

Mito shrugged. "I suppose older brothers have an ingrained notion to hate their younger sisters' boyfriends…what did he say?"

"He thinks I don't know you like he does."

Mito tensed. "And what'd you say to that?" she asked mildly.

"I said your pretty face was the least interesting thing about you and I knew things about you that he didn't," Shikamaru said with a shrug, "so we're even."

A faint pink painted across Mito's cheeks at that. Shikamaru had never complimented her looks before.

"Guess who's back?" a voice sang and both jumped as Yoshino rounded the corner, her brown eyes –so like Shikamaru's– glinting brightly. "I heard my kids kicked ass in the preliminary exams!"

Shikamaru and Mito winced as their heads were knocked together by Yoshino hugging them together. Mito had long since gotten used to the idea that Yoshino considered her to be family (at least she asked her how she was and what she was up to, which was more than her mother had done to date).

"K-Kaa-chan –can't breathe!"

"Oops!" Yoshino grinned widely as she released them both and her son massaged his ribs while Mito remained unperturbed by Yoshino's strength, as much as Naruto had been when he'd first experienced it.

"I'm proud of you, Shikamaru," she said and her smile made Shikamaru flustered, averting his gaze. "And you too, Mito…"

Yoshino cast her husband's apprentice a significant look. "Shikaku told me you met a rather unsavory character in the forest."

Shikamaru glanced towards Mito whose fingers twitched as though itching to curl into a fist.

"I handled it," Mito said sourly.

Yoshino arched an eyebrow. "I heard you stumbled back to the tower after your run-in with Orochimaru."

Shikamaru, who had pulled out and filled a cup of water, choked on his drink to gape at Mito. "You ran into _Orochimaru_ and you didn't say _anything?"_

Mito wrinkled her nose. "I had it sorted," she said decisively and it came as no surprise when Shikamaru scoffed.

"You had enough venom in you to kill a grown man," Yoshino pointed out.

"I wish Sensei didn't tell you everything," Mito said, annoyed.

Yoshino winked. "That's marriage for you, darling."

Shikamaru reached over to trace a circle with his finger on the back of her hand.

"I'm fine," Mito promised, "you know tanuki don't like snakes. Shukaku helped me break it down in my blood."

"Thank you, Shukaku," Yoshino said loudly –perhaps a bit more than necessary– in the direction of Mito. Knowledge of the demon Mito possessed was limited to only two adults and several Genin famous for not speaking secrets entrusted to them.

Shukaku muttered something within his cage and Mito smirked.

"In other news…Shikamaru, your grandmother is having dinner with us tonight."

This time Shikamaru didn't manage to swallow the water and it sprayed over the sink as he gaped at his mother. _"What?"_

Mito blinked. "I didn't know you had a grandmother," she said in surprise.

"That's because Kaa-chan hates her," Shikamaru managed after he cleared his throat.

"I don't _hate_ her," Yoshino grated.

"And we're estranged," Shikamaru added. "She hasn't seen me since I was three. I don't like her and I don't remember her."

Yoshino spared her son a fond glance that he missed. "She never really approved of me marrying your father."

"Her loss," Shikamaru grunted.

"Will you be staying for dinner?" Yoshino asked Mito as her son removed the mackerel from the stove.

"I wouldn't want to intrude—"

"If you don't stay, she'll probably drive me insane," Shikamaru told her, brown eyes meeting violet.

" _Shikamaru,"_ Yoshino reproached half-heartedly.

Mito's lips twisted into a smile and she winked. "Alright, then…if there's a threat to your sanity."

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru groaned.

"Impossible man!"

"You two are too cute," Yoshino giggled.

Mito's cheeks darkened as Yoshino went to get the door. "I think your parents are trying to embarrass me every chance they get."

"They are very good at it," Shikamaru agreed, yawning widely. "Kaa-chan's the worst."

"I had no idea," Mito said dryly as Yoshino tilted around the corner.

"Mito, Hokage-sama has requested your presence in his office immediately."

Mito's movements stilled as she looked towards the Nara matriarch. She thought about the blood she'd had analyzed and she went positively white.

"Mito? Are you alright?" Concern was on Yoshino's brow as she posed the question and Shikamaru had grasped Mito's elbow, a comforting warmth.

"I'll be back for dinner," Mito promised, her voice distant, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Shikamaru looked to his mother.

Yoshino pointed at the leaves. "You're cleaning that up."

Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome."

* * *

Mito leaned uncomfortably against the wall, her whole body tense, her arms crossed and her nails carving crescent moons into her arms.

Had there been something wrong with the blood sample? Perhaps the snake venom had weakened her immune system? Or affected her ability to use Futton?

Her heart throbbed in her chest. Her Futton was _hers_ , it was the Kekkei Genkai she had solely inherited through her mother's blood.

"Mito-sama? Hokage-sama will see you now."

Mito moved numbly through the open door, shutting it quietly as she stood before Hiruzen's desk, noticing right away that she wasn't alone.

Her eyes shifted first to the man standing off to the side of the Hokage's desk. He wore a happuri similar to hers and his face was solemn with calm dark eyes and tufty-brown hair. Even if she hadn't seen the standard issue ANBU armor, she would have known he was ANBU by how he stood.

His eyes shifted towards her and he surprised her by winking.

"Mito-san, good." The Hokage sighed, putting Mito ill at ease. "You're here."

He extended a scroll marked with the medical seal. "This was sent from the hospital from Miki-san."

Mito took it wordlessly, unfurling it and reading its contents.

_Patient: Senju Mito_

_Blood-type: AB_

_Sex: Female_

_Rank: Genin (ex-ANBU)_

_Ninja Registration: 009061_

_Kekkei Genkai: Futton (positive), Mokuton (positive)_

Mito read the scroll no less than five times. "This is…accurate?" she asked the Hokage slowly.

"Miki-san checked three times," Hiruzen told her, "the results are accurate."

"I thought that…given the circumstances," Mito said, carefully skating around saying she'd been experimented on, "I would have just been a carrier of the Mokuton, like Kaa-chan."

"That did indeed seem to be the case," the Hokage agreed, "however, a catalyst has activated it, which is why I called you here."

Mito tilted her head slightly. "Sir?"

"The Mokuton is a prized Kekkei Genkai of Konoha and incredibly rare, as I'm sure you're aware."

Mito hoped she wasn't going to have to listen to a long-winded speech that Naruto often was subjected to.

"Which is why for the next month I wish for you to train under this man, Tenzou-san," Hiruzen said, gesturing the man forward.

Tenzou bowed smoothly. "It is a pleasure and an honor, Mito-sama. You are a legend."

Mito suspected that might have had more to do with her decapitation skill than anything else.

Mito inclined her head politely. "I'm afraid I don't understand." Her eyes flitted between Tenzou and Hiruzen. "How is training with him going to help me?"

The Hokage smiled wryly. "You are not the only one who possesses the Mokuton in the village, Mito-san, you are simply one of two."

Mito's jaw dropped open and she stared. "But you're not a Senju!"

Tenzou cocked his head. "You and I achieved the Mokuton in a similar manner, Mito-sama."

Mito thought about the needle in her arm, the anesthetic coursing through her veins making it difficult to focus, but the fire in her blood was enough to make her scream.

She eyed Tenzou shrewdly before looking to Hiruzen. "Is that why you told Sensei there was a slim possibility for my survival?"

"Yes," the Hokage admitted. "Though I believed given your Senju blood, the chance of you surviving was higher than his."

"You are far too kind, Hokage-sama," Mito drawled before turning towards Tenzou. "Do you really think you can train me to use the Mokuton in one month?"

"That will depend on how much you're willing to sacrifice in that amount of time, Mito-sama," Tenzou said.

"This is going to involve me leaving the village, isn't it?" Mito asked with narrowed eyes.

"We will meet at the main gate tomorrow," Tenzou said with a smile, "pack light; your training will be intensive."

* * *

Shikamaru was trying hard not to glower at the woman who had raised his mother.

Kato Kazumi was the most difficult person he had met to date and he was starting to see why his mother was so tough. His mother had hailed from a minor clan, one that wasn't well known for producing shinobi, but she had been a rarity and her mother had pushed her towards marrying into one of the larger clans when she'd caught his father's eye.

Kazumi didn't consider the Nara clan to be a suitable choice for her daughter.

Kazumi's lips curled in disdain as she examined her grandson. "You look just like your _father_ , hardly any Kato blood in you," she commented.

Shikamaru looked at her oddly. He knew he'd inherited a great deal from his mother, and not just in the color of his eyes. His skin tone was a few shades lighter than his father's, more close to his mother, and his features were softer than his father's sharp ones.

He'd been slightly annoyed when Mito pointed it out, but she'd just laughed and said his face suited him, whether or not he'd inherited it mostly from his mother.

A muscle in his father's jaw twitched but he didn't comment. Shikamaru wondered if he was going to speak at all during the dinner, but he was saved from asking by the sound of the door opening and shutting.

"Shikamaru, go let Mito know the dinner plan, will you?" Yoshino called, her voice strained and Shikamaru was all too eager to leave.

Mito was pulling off her heeled sandals that she only wore when she wasn't on active duty, her Nara haori over her shoulders and her red hair wet from the drizzle of rain.

"Hey," she grinned, "how's dinner going?"

Shikamaru grimaced and she laughed. "That bad?"

"Worse," Shikamaru grated. "I wonder how much they'd kill me if I skipped…"

Mito's eyes glinted as she stood once more and Shikamaru was pleased to note that without the heels he was actually taller than her.

"I'll keep you sane…relatively," she said grinning widely, kissing him lightly. "Come and introduce me to the bane of your mother's existence."

"And who's this?"

Mito surveyed Kato Kazumi for a silent moment. Fine wrinkles adorned her face and her dark hair had long since silvered, but Mito could see where Yoshino got her intensity from.

"I'm Senju Mito," she said.

"My girlfriend," Shikamaru interjected and a look passed between them. Mito would have been fine introduced as Shikaku's apprentice, but girlfriend would make more sense as to why she was there.

Kazumi arched an eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit young?" she scoffed.

Mito considered responding "Aren't you a bit old?" but she restrained herself. She shrugged simply. "I think it depends more on how troublesome the man is, to be honest."

Yoshino hid her giggles and Shikaku cracked a smile while Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk.

"Clearly one of yours," Kazumi tossed towards Shikaku who remained unperturbed.

"My apprentice, if that's what you mean," Shikaku commented. "Mito is exceptional."

Mito's cheeks flushed and she beamed; her sensei didn't often compliment her, and they were always hard-won, so Mito learned to appreciate them.

"Let's hope no one kills anyone during dinner," Shikamaru muttered into her ear as they followed his parents into the dining room.

Thankfully, Yoshino did most of the talking that involved speaking with Kazumi. Shikamaru and Mito were distracted by a game of shogi that took place entirely on their plates with pieces of cut salmon substituting the pieces.

To Kazumi it merely looked as though they were playing with their food, but Shikaku hid his smirk when Mito snagged one of Shikamaru's bishops from his plate, plopping it into her mouth with a wink.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes before relieving her of her silver general.

"Bastard," she muttered under her breath as he chewed on the pieces.

"Bitter loser."

She stole his king for that and his look soured. "Bitter _cheating_ loser."

Mito tossed him a wink. "Only for you."

"Such low scores in the academy? This is all from your side of the family," Kazumi scorned Shikaku.

"You are a piece of work," Mito said, before Shikaku could offer a reply.

Brown eyes narrowed and the woman scrutinized the girl in front of her. "What did you say?"

"So what if he didn't get great scores in the Academy?" Mito demanded. "I didn't even go to the Academy. Do you even _know_ the first thing about your grandson?"

Yoshino's eyes flitted between her mother and Mito.

"Do you know his favorite color is green? Or that he is exceptionally skilled in tactics? Do you know that when he's thinking really hard he does this with his hands?" Her fingers formed into the sign she'd often seen when playing opposite him, each finger pressing against each other lightly. "Do you know that he hates boiled eggs and loves mackerel? Do you know that when he makes a promise he keeps it? Do you know how much he loves his mother and father that you piss him off just by suggesting Shikaku-sensei isn't good enough for Yoshino-san? Do you know that he is the most promising Genin to come out of Konoha in a long time? No, of course not."

Mito smiled stiffly. "Excuse me, I have other more pressing matters to attend to." And then she stood swiftly and left the way she came.

She was halfway to the entrance of the clan when someone behind her called her name and she was surprised to see Shikamaru running up to her (because when had Shikamaru ever run?).

"I hadn't realized you noticed all that," Shikamaru admitted, scuffing his sandal into the ground.

A sardonic eyebrow rose. "And exactly how much about me do you notice, Shikamaru-kun?"

His cheeks pinked to her pleasure.

"I'm going to be out of the village until the finals," she told him, glancing briefly at the sky which was gradually darkening.

"You are?" That surprised Shikamaru.

"My captain is taking me somewhere where I won't do serious damage to others while I train," Mito said with a faint smirk.

"Captain? As in ANBU?" Shikamaru asked, catching the use of the word.

Mito winked, but she neither confirmed nor denied.

Shikamaru groaned. "And Oyaji is probably going to run me into the ground for the finals."

A laugh escaped her lips. "But that would be incredibly troublesome, don't you think?"

She kissed him again, this time, longer than before and Shikamaru's hands molded to her hips when she pulled back.

"Later, Shikamaru-kun!"

And she walked off and out of the compound, making towards hers.

* * *

"You're really leaving the village for a month?" Temari said in surprise as they walked with.

Mito shrugged her shoulders, displacing the pack on her back slightly. "That's what my new sensei says."

She'd abandoned her old uniform for the typical training uniform that she usually wore which consisted of a tight form-fitting sleeveless shirt and loose black shinobi pants that cut off under her knee. The shirt exposed her ANBU tattoos and one identical to the one Gaara had carved into his forehead.

"Shouldn't your boyfriend be seeing you off?" Kankurou asked sullenly, his hands tucked behind his head.

"Oh, no, I said goodbye to him yesterday," Mito disregarded. "Besides, it's only for a little less than a month…and Miki-san knows you two get two weeks off, but after that she's scheduling you at the hospital, alright?"

Matsuri gave a sigh of exasperation and Fuu scowled from where they had been maintaining their silence.

"So unfair," Fuu grumbled.

"Don't be so troublesome," Mito scoffed, "soon you'll be performing your own surgeries."

Matsuri brightened. "Really?"

"Don't expect anything too glamorous, you'll be starting small—"

"Oh, come on!" Fuu bemoaned and Temari snorted.

"I've got to go," Mito said, glancing towards the gate where Tenzou was standing. She hugged her brother and sister together trying to shake how uneasy she felt before squeezing the shoulders of her apprentices.

"Look after the village while I'm gone, yeah?" she asked the two guards.

Kotetsu and Izumo saluted childishly and she laughed, jogging over to where the older man was standing.

"So, where to, Tenzou-senpai?" She had always been the youngest and least skilled amongst the ANBU and thus each one she referred to as 'senpai'.

"A great distance away, I'm afraid," Tenzou intoned, "ready to run?"

"Always," Mito laughed.

* * *

 _What a load of bad luck_ , Naruto thought to himself as he scowled at the white-haired man. Of course his godfather would have to be the guy that wrote that porno book that Kakashi-sensei always had his nose stuck in.

The only consolation was that Mito and Shikamaru shared the burden of having such a terrible godfather.

First he'd gone and knocked out his sensei –not Kakashi, Ebisu who had been assigned by Kakashi to help Naruto for the finals– and given himself the job.

" _No matter what he seems, never forget that Jiraiya-sensei taught your father," Yoshino-baa-chan had reminded him, "and look what he became; the Yondaime Hokage."_

It was going to be a long few weeks and all he was having Naruto do was summon.

Naruto growled under his breath as he only produced a tadpole… _again._

* * *

Ino was regretting her decision immensely. True, Maito Gai was the best Taijutsu master in the village, but his training regimen was completely insane; it was hard for her to tell which was worse, Gai or Mito. But at least Mito wasn't all about Taijutsu, she had an off switch, but Gai was on it all the time.

She gritted her teeth, blocking one of his powerful strikes with her shin, but it still broke through her shin-guard, bruising the flesh beneath.

Ino swung her fist with precision, missing her target, but colliding with the ground, causing it to crack under the pressure of the contained chakra.

"Good," Gai said, "but you need to be better."

Well, there was no denying that, after all, she was going up against the strongest Genin currently in Konoha. She needed all the help she could get.

"Yes, sensei!"

* * *

"The Mokuton Release involves the combination of both Suiton and Doton styles…I understand you utilize another Kekkei Genkai, the Futton?"

Mito nodded her head as she stood opposite her teacher. The location that they had ended up at happened to be the mountain hideout that Mito, Fuu, and Matsuri had stayed at before heading towards Mizu no Kuni.

"But the Futton deals with Suiton and Katon," Mito pointed out.

Tenzou nodded. "But it means you have an advantage in knowing how to balance two elemental styles."

"Suiton is weak against Doton, though," Mito added, "I'm not sure how combining them makes the Mokuton work."

"It works," Tenzou said with a smile, "because of the balance, Mito-sama."

And then he thrust down into the earth and Mito watched with wide eyes as a great tree grew in the space where his hand had once been.

"Ready to begin?"

Mito nodded feverishly.

* * *

Shikamaru had salve smeared onto his arms and bound in bandages from chakra burns and was looking worse for wear in Ino's opinion as she met him after lunch at the dango place down the road from Yakiniku Q.

"You look like hell," she commented with a smirk, chewing on a dango as he sat heavily across from her.

He groaned into the wooden table. "I need a nice long nap…Oyaji's been training me non-stop."

Ino arched an eyebrow. "Imagine training with Gai-sensei all day and then going home to Tou-chan; I need more sleep than you, lazy ass."

Shikamaru ignored the jab and swiped one of her dango sticks. "Have you seen Chouji?"

Chouji had been hospitalized shortly after his release by nothing more than a severe case of indigestion.

"Yeah," Ino said with a laugh. "He keeps begging me to use my Medical Ninjutsu to get him out of there sooner, but every time I visit I'm completely out of chakra."

"His loss," Shikamaru said taking a swig of tea. "At least there's only two more weeks until this troublesome thing."

"I'm not sure if that's you not wanting to train or you wanting to see Mito again," Ino said slyly, leaning forward slightly, her eyes glinting.

"You're a menace." Shikamaru scowled.

"Think of the terror I could cause in T&I," Ino agreed with glee.

* * *

Mito was breathless as she formed the necessary hand seals; it had been a long time since someone had pushed her as hard as Tenzou-senpai.

Their feet and legs clashed and Mito ducked as his wood-encased arm was thrown towards her.

" **Mokuton: Sashiki no Jutsu (Wood Release: Cutting Technique)!"**

A wooden stake was flung towards Tenzou, only to lodge in the ground and several branched punctured through the earth.

"Again!" he barked.

Mito thanked Shukaku for her increased stamina, but somehow Tenzou was still managing to run her into the ground.

* * *

Shikamaru's hand held open a book of shogi strategies that his mother had gotten him years ago. It was so worn with age and constant reading that the binding was starting to peel away. He slouched in his seat beside the hospital bed, glancing towards its occupant.

Naruto had been sleeping for days now, but he'd been told it was simply severe chakra exhaustion. At this rate he was going to miss the finals.

And then the blonde stirred faintly and opened his eyes to wince at the light of the room.

Shikamaru smirked. "Hey, finally awake?"

Naruto blinked a few times, the haze of sleep confusing him. "…Hospital?"

"Yeah, you've been sleeping for three days straight," Shikamaru told him.

"Three days?" Naruto said sleepily before he exploded. " _THREE DAYS?!"_

Shikamaru nearly fell of his chair, so startled by the outburst as Naruto leapt to his feet on the mattress. "W-What?"

"Shikamaru, when are the final matches?" Naruto demanded of his, his blue eyes wide.

"Tomorrow," Shikamaru said, cringing at Naruto's volume.

" _What?!"_

Shikamaru jumped as he grabbed his mesh shirt and vest, pulling him forward. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier-ttebayo?! I don't have time to just sleep here! Where's that Ero-Sennin? Where is he? He's supposed to be supervising my training!"

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru snapped. "I have no clue what you're going on about and you need to calm the hell down!"

Naruto looked like he wanted to argue, but he subsided under Shikamaru's glare.

"There's nothing you could possibly learn before tomorrow, so resting is probably the best course of action," Shikamaru said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "If you keep making a ruckus, I'm going to go visit Chouji."

"Chouji?" Naruto blinked owlishly at him. "What's Chouji doing here?"

"Severe indigestion from eating too much barbeque," Shikamaru said with a chuckle, "I think he's learned his lesson now…it's too bad he's not allowed to eat any of this yet."

Shikamaru lifted the basket of fruit that he'd brought with him, but the nurse had refused to let him take into Chouji's room.

Naruto grinned in a fox-like manner. "We could always eat it in front of him."

"You're a freak," Shikamaru decided, but he still permitted Naruto to drag him through the door and out into the hallway. "Chouji's room is the other way."

Naruto tapped a finger to his lips and pointed out a familiar head of red hair, but it didn't belong to Mito, but Gaara.

"Why's he here?" Naruto muttered before dragging Shikamaru along in silent protest.

Though, whatever business Gaara had in the hospital, it couldn't be good.

Naruto and Shikamaru followed him silently to a room neither recognized, but a glance within told them that it belonged to Rock Lee, still recovering from the injuries Gaara had inflicted upon him in the preliminaries.

Gaara raised his hand over Lee's slumbering body, clenching his hand slightly, causing sand to gather around Lee, spreading over his limbs and slowly making its way up to his face and Gaara suddenly froze.

"Hey, you—!"

Naruto leapt forward to swipe Gaara across the face with his fist and Shikamaru jerked back in pain, his own cheek throbbing with Gaara's.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Naruto demanded.

"Calm down, Naruto," Shikamaru said, rubbing at his cheek, "remember as long as I'm using the **Kagemane no Jutsu** , anything you do to him, I'm going to feel."

"Sorry, Shikamaru," Naruto said quickly glancing back to Gaara with his cracked sand armor and he couldn't help but compare him to Mito. Physically, they were quite similar with the same spiky red hair, same slight stature, and same dark rings around their eyes (though they were far more prominent on Gaara). But where Mito smiled brightly with expressive violet eyes, Gaara gazed on, blank-faced with unfeeling jade ones.

You couldn't have had twins that were more different from each other.

"What were you trying to pull?" Naruto nearly growled. "What were you doing to Bushy Brows?"

Gaara gazed at them impassively and, without a single change in expression, he said, "I was going to kill him."

" _What?"_ Both Shikamaru and Naruto started at that.

 _He was entirely too calm about killing,_ Shikamaru thought _, like someone who had done it countless times before._ It was possible that he could easily break his **Kagemane no Jutsu** , Shikamaru knew Mito had managed it, but Gaara seemed unperturbed by the situation he was in.

"Why would you do that?" Shikamaru asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You won your match against him…unless you've got a personal vendetta against him?"

 _Unlikely_ , he thought to himself.

"No," Gaara said and Shikamaru twitched and Naruto tensed. "I was going to kill him because I want him dead."

" _Do you even know what you're saying?!"_ Naruto demanded, jabbing his fist towards Gaara.

"You grew up in a bad environment, didn't you?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically; he knew all too well the situation of Mito and Gaara's childhoods.

If he pulled any moves against them, Shikamaru wasn't sure he and Naruto would be enough. Naruto may have been the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, but according to rumors, the strongest of the Bijuu was measured by the least amount of tails they had, which made the Ichibi, Shukaku, the strongest, but he was cut down to half, sealed within two.

"If you try to interfere," Gaara rasped, "I'll kill you too."

" _What?!"_ Naruto blew up again. "Just you try it!"

"Cut it out, Naruto!"

Shikamaru wanted to beat his head into the wall; why did Mito have to leave at the worst possible time?

But then Gaara's eyes fixed on him.

"You," he said, "reek of _her_ whom I will kill."

This new information startled Shikamaru. "You want to kill _Mito?_ _Your twin sister?"_

"That's _sick,"_ Naruto said disgusted. "She took care of you, didn't she?"

"She abandoned me," Gaara said coldly, and it was the most emotion either had heard from him yet. "Because I was born a monster."

"You're wrong," Shikamaru said, biting the inside of his cheek, "Mito told me the whole story. When your mother was pregnant with the two of you your father sealed the Ichibi, Shukaku, into you. Your mother died of complications during the birth…afterwards the pair of you were separated from your other siblings; Mito was raised by Hyuuga Kouga and you were raised by your maternal uncle.

"You were both caught extensive Kinjutsu and Mito tried to protect you from the villagers that hated you for being a Jinchuuriki." Naruto's fists unconsciously clenched. "She became the monster instead to protect you." Gaara tilted his head slightly, reminding Shikamaru of Mito. "The day she 'abandoned' you, she appeared on the outskirts of Suna and was picked up by a Missing-nin."

Shikamaru scowled at Gaara. "Mito didn't abandon you; she just got lost."

"Do you think I care about that anymore?" Gaara gave an unfeeling laugh that sent a shiver down both their spines. "At first I thought my purpose was to find her and kill her for leaving me behind—" Shikamaru stretched his shadow to Naruto, holding him in place when he took a threatening step forward. "—but my attempt failed and she survived—" Shikamaru remembered the incident Gaara described; Mito had come home with a thick bandage over her abdomen where she'd pulled out the stake of sand. "—so I came up with a new reason, a new purpose to live. I exist to kill all other humans than myself. Living in constant fear of assassination has taught me to fight only for myself and to love only myself."

He had their unwavering attention and Naruto swallowed thickly.

"As long as there are still people for me to kill that will allow to experience the joy of living…my existence will remain."

" _Killing gives me no joy," Mito had said, her tone somber, "but sometimes it's the things you hate to do that you're the best at."_

Shikamaru could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Could one incident cause someone to think like that? Had his childhood dependence on his sister cause him to lose control once she had gone?

And then he jerked back suddenly as the sand flared up around them, moving without being barred by Shikamaru's technique.

"Now," Gaara breathed, his eyes wide, "help me feel alive!"

" _Enough!"_ A foot slammed down onto the ground at the same moment Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu broke.

Three heads looked to see that Gai had made an appearance. "The finals start tomorrow, don't be in such a hurry…unless you want to become an inpatient today?"

The question was clearly thrown towards Gaara, who grabbed his head instantly as though pained and the sand trailed away from Lee to return to his gourd, but then he straightened up, moving towards the door.

"I will kill you all," he said once he reached the door, "just you wait."

Why did it sound more like a promise than a threat?

_Troublesome._


	23. Results of Training

Tsunade was not as cut-off from Konoha as she appeared and Shizune certainly was glad for any scrap of news concerning her village.

"Look, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune bounced on the balls of her feet as she showed the betting pamphlet for the fighters in the finals of the Chuunin Exam. "Its Mito-chan!"

Tsunade blinked and took the pamphlet from Shizune, looking over the faces, her eyes shifting to one in particular.

Mito was not smiling, but she wasn't frowning either. Her violet eyes were clear and bright, unlike the last time she had seen them and her hair was wilder than she remembered, nearly obscuring the purple diamond at the center of her forehead.

A soft smile lifted her lips at the sight of the girl she had come to view as a daughter and one who had in turn called her 'Kaa-chan' with utter devotion. But she also remembered how upset she'd dropped her off in Konoha without so much as an explanation and a hurried kiss to her forehead.

Tsunade gave a forlorn sigh.

* * *

"Maa, don't you two ever sleep?"

Kotetsu, who had been on the brink of doing so, blinked rapidly at the thirteen year old Genin standing in front of him and Izumo, presenting her papers for verification.

"Tch, depends on how soon our replacements arrive," he scoffed, leaning over the counter to look over her.

Her hair was falling in her eyes and her training uniform was torn and ripped and bandages covered her arms and legs.

"We weren't sure you were going to make it in time for the finals," Izumo mentioned, checking his watch. "It's rather late."

"Tenzou-senpai Shunshin'd and told me to run the whole way back," Mito commented, vaguely annoyed. "I would've been back sooner, but he'd completely wiped me out before, the bastard."

"Nice guy," Kotetsu sniggered when Mito suddenly tensed, inhaling sharply through her nose. "Something wrong?"

"I smell blood, a lot of blood," Mito said, narrowing her eyes as she looked into the village. "That can't be good."

Izumo and Kotetsu shared a glance. Mito had been gone a month, so she had no idea how tense things were between Konoha and Suna; could one of them be the reason behind it?

And then she was rushing off with Izumo yelling after her, "Hey! You can't just say that and rush off!"

"I'll go after her," Kotetsu offered –anything to get away from guarding the front gate–, leaping over the counter to follow her.

" _That's a lot of blood,"_ Mito thought to Shukaku.

" **If they're not dead already, they will be soon,"** Shukaku scoffed, **"leave them."**

But he knew that Mito wasn't well known for leaving things well enough alone.

Mito leapt from the ground to a roof before rocketing into the air once more, racing along the rooftops for the origin of the blood's scent which was thickening on the air. Mito remembered the suffocating scent well, but when she saw the fallen form she didn't even want to believe in the possibility that it was him.

Gekkou Hayate's Jounin flak vest was ripped terribly, blood soaking from the deep wound through his shirt and onto the roof.

"Oh, God!" Kotetsu had arrived, horror leaking into his tone as Mito knelt in the blood, her glowing hands to Hayate's chest, listening intently. "Hayate!"

_Ba-dum…ba-dum…_

"He's alive."

"He's what?" Shock was making the Chuunin slow, but Mito glowered at him so darkly that he recoiled.

"I need you to go to the hospital and have them prep a room for surgery," Mito said, her emotions carefully controlled. "Tell them a severely injured Jounin is on the way and to prepare AB blood for a transfusion, then run to the Hokage and report to him everything that's happened."

He was gone in seconds and Mito turned back to the task at hand. The run back to Konoha had been completely without her chakra, so her chakra was almost completely back to normal.

"It's going to be alright, Hayate-san," she murmured, "I'm not going to let you die…Yuugao-senpai will kill me."

His eyelids fluttered and his breath was a hiss as he tried to form words and Mito leaned down to catch them, her eyes widening.

But she didn't have time to concern herself with that information as she grabbed Hayate tightly, cradling his head in her hand so that it wasn't jostled, and then they both disappeared in a Shunshin, reappearing just inside the emergency room.

"Get me a damn gurney!" Mito shouted, and chaos erupted around her as the medics rushed to comply, and then it was complete chaos as she traded with another Medic-nin to rush to the surgery room and change into a surgeon gown.

"Get me Miki-san, now!"

"Yes, ma'am!" one nurse stuttered, quickly departing in search for the Head Medic.

The gown was tied behind her back and the gloves were pulled over her hands just as Hayate was brought through the doors.

"We haven't been able to stabilize—"

That was already clear to Mito and she had to wonder what pointing it out was going to do to the situation.

"Step aside," she barked, placing her hands over the wound, trying not to feel how warm his flowing blood was or how it was slowing but not stopping. Her throat was closed and she tried not to look at his face which had last time been flushed with color with a soft smile gracing his lips as he walked hand in hand with Yuugao down the street, both waving at her when she'd passed them on her way out.

Her focus was entirely on the deep lacerations and closing them as quickly as she could before he bled out, and the transfusion was hardly helping matters.

Mito's eyes narrowed and darkened as she pushed more chakra against the wounds. This was a race against time and Mito couldn't afford to lose.

* * *

It was early in the morning when the Jounin and Chuunin gathered before the Hokage, but none complained, taking note of how particularly grave their leader appeared.

But Shikaku's eyes shifted to his ever-present shadow whose presence could only mean she had just returned from her brief training outside the village.

Mito was still wearing the training uniform she'd left in, only it was more worn and ripped as well as stained at her knees and chest from blood. Her lab coat was bright against her dark clothes and made the raw-red of her eyes more obvious.

Hiruzen gestured for her to speak and Mito's grip was tight around her clipboard, astutely ignoring her sensei.

"About an hour and a half ago Gekkou Hayate was discovered near Kikyou Castle and was admitted into the hospital with severe to life-threatening injuries." She bit the inside of her mouth as the Jounin and Chuunin tensed. "He didn't make it off the table."

Anko's eyes widened in shock, horror in the knowledge of her friend's passing. Kotetsu and Izumo's heads were bowed and their shoulders shook as the grief spread across those converged. Genma was frozen.

"Was it Orochimaru?" Anko demanded suddenly only to be cut off by Kakashi.

"We can't jump to conclusions," Kakashi denied, chancing a glance towards her out of the corner of his eye, "Hayate was most likely trailing the Oto spy, Kabuto…but it's pretty certain that Orochimaru is plotting something."

Mito shifted in surprise at the mention of Kabuto being a spy…things certainly had happened while she'd been away.

"Hokage-sama," she said quietly as they began to debate whether or not to keep the Chuunin Exams on, "should I leave?" She'd been to a few meetings between the Hokage and his advisors and the Chuunin and Jounin, mostly during her time as his assistant, but she wasn't sure if it was better for her to stay or leave.

"No," Hiruzen said tiredly, "that's not necessary. I need to speak with you afterwards."

Mito nodded, straightening her back and staring ahead in the typical ANBU posture. Her eyes, unwillingly, met Shiranui Genma's and she swallowed thickly in the face of his unblinking stare that demanded answers.

"You think our allies might partner with Orochimaru?" Namiashi Raidou was aghast, the burn mark across his left cheek and bridge of his nose rippling as he gritted his teeth. "And betray Konoha?"

"Well, the treaties of alliance are really no more than verbal agreements," Kakashi conceded, "it's just like the shinobi world wars of the past."

The Sandaime puffed on his pipe. "In any case," he said, "right now we have too little information. We must not make too many assumptions…"

Utatane Koharu spoke next. "We have already dispatched ANBU squads to each nation to gather intelligence…it is imperative that we not make a single careless move. Our enemies will pounce on any such opportunity."

"I have the utmost confidence in you all," Hiruzen said, before his eyes narrowed slightly, "if it comes to it, we shall consolidate all of Konoha's strength…and fight!"

"We need to talk," Genma said once the meeting had concluded.

"Look," Mito sighed, rubbing at her eyes despite how irritated they already looked, "I'd love to tell you what exactly happened, Genma-san, but unfortunately I haven't slept in awhile and I am running low on chakra and I have to speak with Hokage-sama before I collapse from exhaustion."

Genma's expression didn't change and Mito couldn't say that she had expected it to. Genma was Hayate's best friend, of course he wanted answers.

"After the exams I'll tell you everything, I promise," Mito added before walking past him towards the Hokage's office.

It had been worse dealing with Yuugao than Genma. Hayate had proposed to Yuugao as soon as he had been given a clean bill of health, and the look on her face when Mito had come out of the surgery…Mito didn't ever want to see it again.

"What can you conclude from Hayate-san's injuries?"

Mito abruptly pulled herself back into the present, withdrawing a photograph of Hayate's chest.

"At first I thought it was sword, given how fine the cuts were," she said finally, gesturing to the slices. "But even a sword wouldn't be able to cut so fine…but before he…Hayate-san said one word, 'Suna'."

The Sandaime sagged in his chair in exhaustion. It was as it had been said earlier, their treaty with Suna was failing.

"There is one technique I know that is used by a Suna-shinobi currently in the village that could cause this kind of damage," Mito continued, "and that is the **Kaze no Yaiba (Blade of Wind)** by Baki-san."

Hiruzen looked to her, taking note of her gritted teeth and clenched fists.

"I need to know whether or not you can handle the possibility of going against your siblings, Mito-san."

An annoyed expression overtook her face.

"Hokage-sama," she said meeting his eyes with her own, "I chose Konoha over Suna a long time…I'm the _least_ of your problems."

She didn't like people questioning her ability to be objective and the irritation was probably the only reason she left the room without being dismissed, as she had always been quite respectful towards him.

Mito bit the inside of her cheek as she shut the door behind her before muttering angrily to herself, stalking off in the direction of the hospital.

The South Wing was under construction and as such was mostly vacant, but there were a few rooms still useable. However, only one required a key card and password, and that room was mostly used for very important people suffering from injuries, which was also why it was the only room with protective seals encircling it.

She slid the key card through the slot, punching in the four numbers of the code and opening the door, not at all surprised to see a katana aimed at her throat.

Yuugao had left her ANBU mask be the bed, but she was still dressed in her ANBU armor, looking just as fierce, even with her eyes so red.

The ANBU only relaxed once she'd ascertained Mito was who she appeared to be.

"Mito-san," she said her name quietly, "how did it go?"

Mito shut the door behind them, thus activating the privacy seals. "Everyone seems to have bought it; Hokage-sama's plan worked."

Both looked to where the figure on the bed lay in a deep slumber, a nasal cannula secured under his nose and looping around his ears.

Gekkou Hayate may have been unconscious but he still looked better than he had an hour and a half ago.

"There's been no change," Yuugao sighed.

"I'd give it anywhere from a few hours to a day or so," Mito sighed, slumping into one of the two available seats and Yuugao spared her a grateful smile before the red-head's eyes slid shut.

* * *

"Sasuke-teme and Mito-chan aren't here," Naruto was quick to notice, muttering to Shikamaru as he stood in a slump beside the blonde.

He'd been a little late to show up, checking on Hinata before racing to the arena. She'd been released from the hospital only the week previously and her heart had recovered enough that her father was permitting her to watch the Finals.

Shikamaru glanced through the line-up. "Neither is Dosu," he added. Shikamaru had been meant to fight two battles, one against Dosu, and one against Temari (if he'd won against Dosu), but the Oto-nin was nowhere to be seen.

"But Mito-chan's usually on time," Naruto pointed out, and he wasn't wrong.

"I heard Oyaji and Kaa-chan talking earlier," Shikamaru said quietly, "one of Mito's patients was killed this morning."

Naruto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to ask who when their new proctor, a Jounin named Shiranui Genma who wore his hitai-ate like a bandana and had positioned a senbon between his teeth, cut him off.

"Be quite you two." His eyes were hard; maybe he'd known the shinobi that was killed. "And stop fidgeting. You're the stars of the finals, so act like it."

Shikamaru slumped further and Ino expertly hid her giggles as the Hokage rose to speak. Beside him, Ino noticed, was a man wearing the Kazekage hat.

So that was Mito's father…there wasn't much of him to see (though she doubted she would have seen much at this distance anyways) with the white cloth covering everything below his eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests…welcome and heartfelt thanks for gathering here in Konoha for the Chuunin Selection Examination!" The Sandaime called, addressing those in the stands as a whole. "We will now begin the matches of the final round between the ten candidates who advanced from the preliminaries. Please sit back and enjoy!"

The proctor turned to face them, the senbon in his mouth swinging violently.

"Before we begin, I have a few announcements…including a change in the match-ups."

He unfolded a paper that he'd withdrawn from his pocket to show them all.

**_Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji_ **

**_Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke_ **

**_Kankurou vs Aburame Shino_ **

**_Temari vs Nara Shikamaru_ **

**_Yamanaka Ino vs Senju Mito_ **

With the lines drawn the way they were, the winners of matches one and two would face each other, and three and four, with the latter winner facing the winner of five before there were only two left to fight.

Shikamaru restrained from making his surprise evident at the lack of Dosu's name. _Had he dropped out?_

Naruto waved his hand in the air like he was in class and knew the answer to the question.

"What?" Genma asked.

"Sasuke-teme and Mito-chan aren't here yet," the blonde said, "what's going to happen if they don't show up?"

Genma smirked, but it was without feeling. "Then they'll lose by forfeit."

Mito wouldn't blow off a match, especially one against Ino, that much Ino knew for sure. Mito had been looking forward to fighting her first apprentice and friend with earnest.

They had a new proctor, which might have seemed typical, if not for how stiffly he stood or how the skin around his eyes was tight.

And one of Mito's patients was dead…and the only one Ino could think of as having a particular significance to Mito was Gekkou Hayate.

Ino swallowed thickly. Hayate-san was really nice and she'd enjoyed his company when Mito had asked her to check on him a few times…and the way he'd looked at Yuugao-san…Ino had never seen a look so loving.

Yuugao-san must have been heartbroken.

"Listen up all of you," Genma intoned, chewing on his senbon, "this is the last exam. The landscape may be different, but just as with the prelims, there are no set rules. You fight until one of you dies or admits defeat…unless I determine that a clear winner has already been decided, in which case I'll stop the match before anyone's killed, understand?"

Silence reigned over those gathered.

"Alright, then…match number one: Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji…you two stay down here, the rest of you proceed to the waiting room outside the arena."

Ino patted Naruto's arm as she passed and their eyes met. Naruto could read the hard look in her eyes without needing to hear her speak.

_Make him pay for what he did to Hinata._

He nodded and the fairer blonde stepped away, following after her teammate's slow, loping gait.

"How badly do you think he wants to beat Neji's face into the ground?" she asked as they came out overlooking the match.

"I don't think you can measure that," Shikamaru said grimly as the match began with a loud call of "Begin!"

Neji settled into the familiar Juuken stance, but Naruto didn't move, a frown still marring his lips as he looked upon his best friend's cousin, the cousin that had nearly killed her.

He'd seen how bruised Hinata's body had been from forcibly opening her tenketsu points and he'd been there when Ino had examined them closely.

"I don't want to even try to start working on these," she'd said to Hinata's father. "This is going to take a delicate touch to heal…it'd be better to wait until Mito's back in the village; she's better at Medical Ninjutsu than me."

The bruises hadn't yet faded, giving Hinata a look as though she'd been thrown around and Naruto wanted to wring Neji's neck for that.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he did better at close combat, which was what Neji excelled at, and Naruto couldn't afford to get his tenketsu pressed.

His fingers formed into a familiar hand sign. **"Kage Bunshin no Justu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"**

Four Naruto clones popped into existence and rushed for him while Naruto hung back and watched with distaste how Neji easily dismantled his efforts.

How the heck was he doing that? Did the Byakugan allow him to see out of the back of his head?

"You want to be Hokage, huh?" Neji chuckled and Naruto clenched a hand into a fist. "I don't think that's going to happen…I can pretty much tell with these eyes of mine that abilities and talent are determined at birth. In other words, your destiny is set from the time you're born."

Naruto's thoughts went to the picture he had tucked away in his room courtesy of Yoshino-oba of his parents laughing together. His father, the Yondaime Hokage…his mother, the Akai Chishio no Habanero…

Blue eyes glared. "Why are you so stubborn?" he demanded. "You're always so sure that the future is full of gloom and doom!"

"So…you're saying that anyone can become Hokage…if they try hard enough?" Neji sneered. "Only a select few shinobi are even considered for Hokage. Wake up and face reality! Those who will become Hokage are born with that fate. You can't get there by trying, you have to be pre-selected. Each person's life consists only of being swept along in the inescapable current of his destiny. All of us have only one thing in common…one shared fate…death."

Naruto fell into a crouch. "I might die one day, but it'll be on my terms to damn destiny's!"

And then more clones burst into being, preparing for the second onslaught.

There were Narutos on every side, barely landing any hits on Neji until a sudden shot sent him sideways and his sandals skidded on the ground as he looked at the blonde in surprise.

He didn't recognize the stance, but he didn't have time to think about that as the Narutos he'd downed earlier poofed out of existence and two lurched at him from opposite directions.

Naruto wasn't great at statistics, but he knew there had to be at least a chance that some of his attack would hit Neji.

Unfortunately, he was incorrect as Neji twisted in a circular motion, the chakra channeled around him in a protective dome.

Naruto swore as he was sent careening backwards, his clone disappearing. He'd seen Hinata use the same technique several times and Mito was known for using a variation in order to avoid several attacks towards her person. It was called the **Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven).**

The blonde shinobi swiped at a graze on his cheek as Neji smirked.

"You're finished," he said. "You are within the boundaries of my eight trigrams."

Naruto barely had any time to breathe before Neji had settled into an unfamiliar stance.

" **Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!** " he declared, the veins near his eyes throbbing, and then he darted forward, his fingers jabbing painfully into Naruto who quickly lost the feeling of his chakra flowing under his skin.

His legs crumpled under him and he gripped his sides, wishing for the feeling of the chakra to return.

"I've pressed sixty-four of the chakra points around your body…you can no longer even stand," Neji said coolly and Naruto gritted his teeth together. "It must be frustrating, here on your knees before my immutable strength…you must finally comprehend your own powerlessness. Believing that your dreams will come true if you just try hard enough…it's simply a fantasy."

Naruto could feel his anger white-hot under his skin. It was like how every sensei he had had in the Academy had told him it was best he didn't attempt to become a shinobi, or how Mito had to train for hours upon hours to get as good as she was, or how far Ino had come in her Medical Ninjutsu because she never gave up.

" _You want to become Hokage?"_ Yoshino-baa had asked him once. _"Then become Hokage, and don't let anyone stop you."_

He was on his feet before he knew it.

"Just give up," Neji said calmly, "I have no grudge against you—"

Naruto was in pain, so much that it felt like his legs were going to give out underneath him, but his words sent his fury blazing deep inside him.

"Well, I've got one against you!" he snarled. "Hinata-chan's my best friend and the way you ripped into her…she didn't deserve any of that!"

Neji opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto cut him off.

"I know all about the Hyuuga's problems, Hinata-chan and Mito-chan told me," Naruto said, now gripping his shoulder tightly, massaging the tenketsu that had been pressed particularly hard. "And I get that you're angry that your dad died instead of Hinata-chan's, but then you go and blame her for something that's not even her fault! And that's something that only cowards do!"

"I'm a coward, am I?" Neji sneered, his fingers curled into fists as Naruto mentioned the fate of his father.

Naruto's eyes glinted and he gave a bloodstained smirk. "That's right, coward! You have no idea how hard Hinata worked to get where she is. You may be the genius of the Hyuuga clan, but you can't say you created a Kinjutsu with enough power to reopen pressed tenketsu."

Neji couldn't resist glowering at the blonde before him.

"And you know what's really funny?" Naruto chuckled, spitting his blood onto the ground. "The Branch Family's supposed to protect the Main Family, isn't it? But you did the opposite, so weren't you trying to defy your destiny?"

Neji's eye twitched and Naruto gave a sharp cough, taking a step forward, but ti was clear that the movement pained him.

"I've blocked sixty-four of your tenketsu already…how are you planning to fight? You can't use any chakra," the Hyuuga prodigy scoffed. "When we're through, you'll end up just like Hinata-sama."

Anger flashed in his eyes. "Shut the hell up! I'm going to pound your face in the ground for what you did to Hinata-chan!"

But he as all bark and no bite without any use of his chakra…unless…

The Kyuubi.

He had a lot of chakra that hadn't yet been used.

His fingers formed together into a hand seal. Alright, Kyuubi, lend me your chakra!

Deep inside him, a blood red eye opened, while outside his body the wind picked up around him, and then it was a ripple of orange chakra, encircling him. Warmth spread over him, healing the cuts and bruises he had attained up until then.

He could feel it…his tenketsu were no longer pressed, and the chakra spread out into thick streams like nine tails…he'd never felt anything so strong before.

"Here I come!" Naruto snarled and then he darted so fast that Neji lost sight of him for an instant.

But then his eyes found him as the blonde leapt into the air, flinging three shuriken towards Neji who blocked with his Kaiten once more, grabbing the reflected shuriken and throwing them back towards Naruto, who dodged them with another burst of speed nearly reminiscent to his father's Hiraishin.

Then they both grabbed a kunai and raced towards each other, sparks flying off the clashing kunai.

Neji and Naruto skidded in the dirt from the force of the strike to each other.

"So, I hear you like close combat," Naruto smirked as Neji glowered.

Naruto rushed forward, moving so fast Neji wasn't quite going to be able to make it with his Kaiten.

"I may not understand the fate of the Branch family, but if you're so set on it, stop fighting it!" He yelled. "When I become Hokage, I'll change the Hyuuga clan!"

The combined opposing forces caused an explosion that made it impossible to see who came out on top, sending the two figures flying, denting the earth into two holes.

The dust cleared and one stood up and coughed heavily.

It was Neji.

Naruto remained collapsed in his own hole.

Neji stepped out of his hole, moving towards Naruto slightly on weary legs.

"Sorry, failure," Neji breathed tiredly, "but this is reality—"

The ground just before his feet cracked and broke as a body burst through and a fist knocked against Neji's chin, forcing the older boy to cough up blood as he landed on the ground, too exhausted and bruised to move.

Neji groaned. "In the middle of all that, you managed to create a Kagebunshin?" Naruto could swear he sounded almost impressed. "Your signature Ninjutsu…that was careless of me…"

Naruto was breathless, his fist aching something fierce. "I…I failed the academy graduation exam three times," he said, to Neji's confusion. "Because unlucky for me, the exam always tested the same Ninjutsu…my absolute weakest Ninjutsu, and my weakest Ninjutsu was the Bunshin no Jutsu."

His eyes gained a steely glint. "So shut up about destiny and inescapable fate…you shouldn't whine about stuff like that, cause…unlike me…you're not a failure."

Genma smirked, his lips tightening around the senbon needle in his mouth. "Winner –Uzumaki Naruto!"

There was an explosion of cheers.

"Woo! Go Naruto!" Ino yelled from the platform and Shikamaru winced at the volume, distantly recognizing his mother's familiar voice cheering loudly in the stands. How embarrassing.

The next match was Gaara versus Sasuke, but it was hard to fight in a match where one of the opponents was missing.

After nearly ten minutes had passed, it was decided that the match would be postponed.

"Next match: Sabaku no Kankurou versus Aburame Shino," Genma's voice echoed loudly. "Please come down!"

But Mito's brother's words surprised Shikamaru.

"I withdraw," he said.

Ino's eyes narrowed beside him. That was odd. She'd caught him training in one of the unused training grounds after her training with Gai-sensei had concluded for the day. He'd been training too hard to just blow off the match…something else had to be in play.

Shikamaru nearly grimaced. That meant he'd be fighting next! Troublesome…

Temari seemed to be ready to participate, a stark contrast from her brother, sweeping the large tessen off her back, causing the wind around them to pick up as she rode the fan down to the arena, buffeted only by the wind.

"Nara Shikamaru, get down here!" Genma called in time for Naruto to slap Shikamaru on the back, sending him right over the balcony.

Genma arched an eyebrow as he looked towards the fallen boy. Well, the kid wasn't the Commander's son for nothing.

It probably would have gone better if he'd been rearing for a fight, but Shikamaru just laid there while the stadium complained above him.

Temari made a sound of annoyance in the back of her throat, considering her younger sister's boyfriend silently; honestly, she couldn't see the appeal.

Then she lurched forward. "If you aren't going to come to me," she yelled, "then I'm going to you!"

Shikamaru groaned, removing two kunai from his pouch. It looked like Temari and her sister had something in common; they liked to be constantly moving. That was so troublesome.

She raised the tessen and struck it down, raising a cloud of dust only to discover once the cloud had faded that her strike had missed.

Temari looked up in surprise to see her opponent balancing on two kunai struck into the wall.

Shikamaru smirked in a casual way that irked her. "I don't really care whether I become a Chuunin or not, but…I can't stand the idea of losing to a girl, so I guess I'm in."

Her eye narrowed slightly as she drew the tessen back, opening it wafting a strong gust of wind towards the younger boy, but once the wind settled he'd vanished.

Temari's eyes moved to the lone tree in the clearing that would provide him cover.

Shikamaru sighed, looking to the heavens, watching the clouds go by…what he wouldn't give to be a cloud instead of being where he was right now.

Crimson flashed against the blue of the sky and he blinked.

There was no mistake. A red-haired figure sitting atop the roofing that covered the Kage seating could be none other than Mito.

Had she been up there that whole time?

Shikamaru's shoulders sagged. Of course, the Hokage must've tasked her with viewing the matches and making remarks concerning whether or not they were viable as potential Chuunin.

And then he smirked, which, he suspected, was the thing that set Temari off.

" **Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel Technique)!"** she called out, gripping the tessen tightly and swinging it back and forth, summoning a powerful wind that cut into the tree and forced Shikamaru back into the shadow of the arena.

He didn't even wait for the cloud to clear before sending his Kagemane out towards the blonde-haired shinobi.

Temari ducked back quickly, surprised by the sudden move, but it wasn't unanticipated and she flipped several times as the shadow became smaller and smaller, shrinking before her eyes until it couldn't stretch anymore.

She drew a line on the ground just in front where the shadow had stopped, before smirking. "Kagemane no Jutsu…revealed… It seems there are some limits to how much you can manipulate the size and shape of your shadow. Even though you can stretch your shadow at will…you can't increase its overall size past its normal surface area…right?"

A sheepish smile twisted his lips as he gave a small laugh. "That's right."

Then he tilted his head back against the side of the wall, looking directly upwards again with a sigh. He drew his eyebrows together in a small frown as his finger met together.

He didn't see Temari's confusion, too deep in thought.

With his shadow-length what it was now, he was a close-range fighter, but she was a mid to long-range fighter, which put him at a disadvantage.

But the line…that was something. She thought his shadow could only reach so far, but as time went on, the sun would drop lower in the sky and increase the shadow at the side of the wall. That could be used to his advantage.

And the hole Naruto had made… the spot where he'd punched out Neji was closer to him…if he maneuvered her back towards where Naruto went in…

Shikamaru's eyes opened as he planned out the last of the moves in his head, reaching into his back pouch.

"Looks like you've finally mustered some fighting spirit!" Temari released another heavy wave of wind from her **Kamaitachi no Jutsu** and Shikamaru had to duck behind the tree, pulling his vest loose and freeing a kunai.

"You can't hide from me forever!" Temari yelled, only to start as a kunai was thrown through the cloud created by her attack, but she dodged it neatly when the shadow shot out.

She scoffed for a brief few seconds as it made for the line, and then her eyes bulged slightly as the shadow crossed it, forcing her back again until the shadow couldn't go any further.

"Nicely done," Shikamaru drawled from where he was standing, his back still to the wall, shrouded by the shadow the sun had created.

Temari's green eyes narrowed. "You were buying time…waiting for the sun to drop…so that the area of the wall's shadow and your own shadow would increase…because as the day lengthens, so do the shadows!"

She was almost as clever as Mito…almost… It was troublesome.

"Temari, look up!" Kankurou suddenly yelled from the balcony and his older sister was stunned into compliance.

She raised her head in confusion at the thing gliding through the air. It looked like Shikamaru had taken his vest, kunai, and hitai-ate and made some kind of gliding contraption.

Temari's gaze fell downwards quickly in time to see the shadow the contraption had made. _No way!_

She ducked back quickly to avoid the shadow spreading towards her once again.

"I won't let you get away!" It was the most determination she had heard him speak with yet as he forced her back and back until she had reached the general area of where the first match had taken place.

But the shadow still couldn't reach her.

Temari breathed a sigh of relief as she slammed the tessen's edge into the ground, preparing to make her own move when her body could no longer move.

"Impossible!" she whispered.

"Finally," Shikamaru said, spreading his fingers out of the jutsu's hand sign and Temari imitated it, "Kagemane no Jutsu is a success."

"What?" Temari demanded. "Your shadow didn't even reach me!"

His smirk widened. "I'll let you look behind you…" He twisted his head to the side and she did the same, looking to see the shadow trapping her had come from the hole.

"Naruto tunneled from one hole to the other," Shikamaru said. "The two of them are connected."

He went in through one hole and out the other, using the underground shadows to lengthen his reach. Pretty clever for a slacker.

Temari gritted her teeth. "Of course, I didn't think of the shadows underground."

He gave her a bland expression. "That was your mistake."

Shikamaru took a step forward and she with him until they were only a few feet apart, and then Shikamaru and Temari raised one hand.

"That's it…I'm done…I give up," Shikamaru said, to general chaos as the stadium exploded above him in incomprehension. Naruto in particular was easy to hear with his "WHAT?!"

"What?" Temari said, aghast as she was released from his jutsu.

Shikamaru gave an exhausted sort of shrug. "I used up almost all my chakra on that jutsu…I even planned around two hundred more moves…but I'm out of time. And this fighting is getting too troublesome."

Genma arched an eyebrow before declaring. "The winner is: Temari!"

Shikamaru's back cracked as he stretched, barely glancing up when Genma called the next match out: "Yamanaka Ino and Senju Mito get down here!"

A sudden puff of smoke revealed one of the missing shinobi.

Shikamaru blinked at his girlfriend's new attire. Of course, he was used to her favoring darker colors (it was hard enough to hide in plain sight when you had red hair), but it looked as though she'd hardly changed from returning to the village after her training trip, as she was wearing a loose blue kimono shirt over the black uniform she'd left in, ripped in more than several places.

Violet eyes met his briefly, but they betrayed nothing in an almost unnerving manner as Shikamaru headed up to the balcony and Ino leapt off it, ready to fight.

Genma met Mito's eyes briefly, but she said nothing.

"Go, Ino!" Fuu's voice punctured the air somewhere in the sea of people, quickly followed by Matsuri's "Kick Shishou's butt!"

"Begin!" he intoned and leapt back as both girls moved forward swiftly.

They were fast, very fast, and their chakra rippled around each other as their fists, legs, and bodies collided against each other.

The ground beneath their feet cracked.

The movements they made were nearly identical in nature, which was to be expected; Mito, after all, had trained Ino.

Mito kicked Ino in the abdomen, kicking off and running through hand signs as she flipped in midair. " **Futton: Funsha no Sansei (Boil Release: Acid Jet)!"**

Ino dived to the side as the acid made contact with the tree melting it through. She sweatdropped as her friend wiped her mouth. Was she trying to get her killed?

But Mito probably had thought that out already; Ino had seen her Futton firsthand, she knew to avoid it.

Mito also excelled at close combat (unfortunately), and she knew Ino's mid-range technique, so that didn't really help her.

Violet eyes dared her.

Come at me with the intent to kill, they seemed to say. That's the only way to prove to me your worth.

Because being a shinobi meant sometimes having to kill your enemies.

Ino knew at least one jutsu in her arsenal that would at least give her some trouble.

" _I don't use much of Doton," Mito admitted, scratching her cheek as she held out the scroll, "but I can help you out with Suiton."_

Mito rushed forward as Ino went through the necessary hand signs before slamming her hands against the ground.

" **Doton: Retsudo Tenshou (Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm)!"** she called out as the ground cracked and broke under Mito's feet, making her stumble and sink down through sand and dirt.

Ino watched uneasily as her friend's head of red hair disappeared beneath the surface, the anxiety increasing as time wore on.

Even the proctor seemed startled by the turn of events, right up until two hands shot up from the earth, gripping her legs tightly as she pulled her under until only her shoulders, head, and neck were visible.

Ino glowered at Mito as she rose from the earth beside her, waggling her fingers in a wave. "Is that the best you've got?" the blonde asked with a wide grin.

Before she'd been pulled under, she'd cocooned herself in chakra, meaning it wouldn't be as difficult to escape the earth.

Earth cracked as Ino forced her way out, shooting a fist at Mito's face, but the red-head neatly dodged it, withdrawing three senbon and firing them towards Ino's chest.

Ino flipped backwards to avoid them, as they were no doubt poisoned.

" **Suiton: Suidanha (Water Release: Water Severing Wave)!"** she growled before the highly pressurized water shot from her mouth towards and Mito raised her arms, channeling her chakra to wrap around herself similar to how Ino had protected herself.

The stream of water connected with Mito and the next thing anyone knew, Mito had been thrown right through the arena wall.

Shikamaru's eyes went wide and Temari and Kankurou eyed the wall nervously.

A bloodstained hand grabbed the side of the hole and Mito pulled herself through. She had cuts on her cheeks bleeding, though not as much as her forehead would have been if she hadn't been wearing her happuri. Her shin bore a long cut, but it seemed her arms had taken the worst.

And she was grinning, so widely it threatened to split her face.

"I'm very impressed," Mito said as she moved forward carefully, her eyes focused on her lesser injured arm which was already beginning to heal. "It's too bad."

"Too bad?" Ino asked, flummoxed, tensing her body, preparing for another attack as Mito came closer, her bloodied fingers forming several successive seals.

" **Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu (Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique** )," she said, much to the surprise of Ino and most shinobi present at the use of a Kekkei genkai thought to have died with Senju Hashirama.

Mito gripped her upper arm tightly as the texture altered from skin, muscle, bone, and blood to wood. And then the wood spread and branched out, just as one would find on a tree.

They spun around Ino, entrapping her the more she struggled. The branches were stronger than she'd anticipated, much greater than a tree's branches.

The more she struggled, the more it became obvious that she wasn't getting out anytime soon.

Ah, well, it was fun while it lasted.

"I forfeit," she said dully and the branches retracted as Genma announced the winner.

"Winner: Senju Mito!"

The cheering was loud as Mito's arm reformed and she grimaced in pain.

"Are you alright?" Ino asked, moving towards her friend in concern.

It was a little ironic how Mito had been the one most injured in the match, but as she came closer she saw the wounds had already healed.

Mito flexed her fingers, looping her other arm over Ino's shoulders as they moved towards the opening that led to the stairs up into the stadium, not even bothering to look back at the sound of leaves and wind intertwining (the telltale sign of someone using the Leaf Shunshin) and the screams of "Sasuke!" (Fangirls, Mito rolled her eyes).

"I'll be fine," she said, though now that Ino was so close to her, she saw how bone-tired the thirteen year old medic-nin was.

"How'd you get the Mokuton?"Ino asked her as they took to the stairs.

Mito paused, not speaking for a moment as her twin brother came down the stairs, his eyes blank, moving right past her as if not seeing her at all.

But jade met violet for a brief moment and then he exited into the arena.

"Orochimaru," Mito said suddenly, remembering Ino had asked her a question, "when he introduced it into my DNA, it remained dormant, but when we crossed paths in the Forest of Death, one of his snakes bit me and their venom somehow activated it…"

"How did you think I did?" Ino asked a moment later.

"You kicked my ass," Mito remarked dryly, "how do you think you did?"

There was a small rumble and then Gaara screamed and it just went downhill from there as Mito and Ino rushed to see what had happened.


	24. The Konoha Crush

Ino and Mito raced up the stairs until they came out on the landing to see the damage that had been done.

Mito's eyes flew first to the arena where Gaara was standing opposite Sasuke and her eyes widened at the sight of the crimson splashed across his shoulder.

"He's wounded!" she gasped. "That's _impossible!"_

Gaara was never without a protective encasing of sand around his body, his half of Shukaku kept him safe from injury whilst Mito's healed her once injuries were inflicted; she had no shield against attacks aimed at her.

"We can worry about that later!" Ino tugged her arm, drawing her attention away from the arena and up to the stadium.

And Ino was right. The majority of the stadium seemed to have been put under a Genjutsu, unaware of what was going on, and then she looked further upwards, on top of where the two Kage had been sitting, and it looked as though a great purple box was resting there now.

"Hokage-sama," Mito breathed.

"Look! Fuu and Matsuri!"

Mito jolted at the sight of her orange-eyed apprentice fending off an attack by a Suna-nin while Matsuri hung back, not knowing what to do; she may have been training under a Konoha Shinobi, but she was from Suna and in an impossible situation.

"Let's go!"

Mito and Ino leapt over slumbering spectators before they made it to the apprentices' side.

"Nice of you to show up!" Fuu snarled, kicking her enemy so harshly that his leg snapped and he yelled in pain.

"What happened?" Mito demanded and Matsuri ducked under a kunai.

"Well, your brother freaked about that cut Sasuke gave him, and Suna used that distraction to perform a Genjutsu," Fuu growled. "Did you know that they're allies with Oto, now? _Assholes."_

"What about the Hokage?" Mito pressed as Ino shot a senbon needle into an Oto-nin's eye as he tried to approach them.

"The Kazekage," Matsuri gasped with wide eyes, "but it wasn't the Kazekage…it wasn't Rasa-sama at all!"

"What?" Mito demanded, gawping and even Ino seemed shocked at that. "Who was it, Matsuri?"

"Orochimaru," Fuu said. "We couldn't see him all that clearly, but he was exactly as you described. Snake-like, creepy as hell."

Chakra enveloped Mito's arm and she swung it at the next Oto-nin to rip through flesh, muscle, and bone, severing the head completely from the neck, and she watched the head fall over the railing as the body crumpled and Matsuri held a hand to her mouth in shock and even the other two looked a little green.

It was pure chaos, the likes of which Mito had never seen before.

"Mito!"

She stopped just short of thrusting her arm through her sensei's chest, something she was sure he was grateful for.

"Sensei!" she gasped. "You're all right!"

Shikaku may have been technically off duty during the Chuunin Exams but he was still wearing his Jounin flak vest over his deerskin.

"Chouza, Inoichi, and I are heading to the village entrance to cut off the Shinobi," Shikaku said, dusting off his pants. "Can you do the **Katsuyu: Mouryoujika (Katsuyu: Immense Healing Network)**?"

Mito's eyes bulged as she openly gaped at her sensei. The technique in which he spoke of was one that required an immense amount of chakra and the **Byakugou no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal),** and, obviously someone who had signed the slug summoning scroll. Her mother had had her do so when she began her Medical Ninjutsu training.

"There may come a day when you need to summon Katsuyu-sama to help with healing others," was all she had said on the matter.

But Mito hadn't summoned the slug in years, especially since tanuki were her summons of choice.

"I've never tried it." Mito looked frankly scared at the prospect. "I-I'm not sure I can."

" **Afraid,"** Shukaku grunted in her mind, **"that's not like you."**

" _Well, this technique is dangerous,"_ Mito shot back, _"I'd like to see you try it."_

Shukaku gave her an unimpressed glance **. "Use my chakra."**

" _What?"_ Mito balked _. "What did you just say?"_

" **Are you deaf, little girl?"** the demon growled. **"I said, use my chakra."**

She could count on one hand how many times Shukaku willingly gave her his own chakra and still have fingers left over.

"I'll do it," she said, her sight clearing, and Shikaku arched an eyebrow at the sudden change before nodding and vanishing. "All right, Matsuri, head back to the compound. Patient X is your priority."

Matsuri appeared relieved that she wasn't required to fight against Suna-nin and she ducked into the fray, making her way through the chaos and to the street that led towards the Senju family compound.

"Fuu, Ino," Mito barked and both girls stood to attention, "get to the hospital, there's going to be casualties."

"On it!"

Mito gritted her teeth in annoyance. The technique was difficult enough without adding in her need to watch her back whilst she performed it, which meant she needed to have guards in order to remain focused at all time.

Where was that ANBU captain anyways?

Mito dodged around a Suna-nin, leaping up onto the roof before jumping across to where the four-sided barrier was that kept Sandaime-sama locked within with only Orochimaru as company. But around it stood a number of ANBU.

Her sandals skidded across the roof as she came to a stop.

"Senju-sama!"

"ANBU-san," Mito said without even a blink, "I'm going to perform a remote healing on the whole village. I need four guards to cover me while I perform the jutsu."

If he was surprised by her words, it didn't show (but the porcelain mask also helped with that).

"I will go with her."

Mito started in surprise as Yuugao leapt down to join them, her face hidden behind her cat mask. She must have found a necessary replacement to watch over Hayate at the hospital.

And her three teammates nodded in agreement with her as Mito made a hand sign with her fingers and a kagebunshin burst into view beside her, giving one nod of her own before dashing away.

"GET BACK!" Mito's double bellowed as she landed in the street below, before thrusting her hand against the ground with a call of **, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"**

The black seal patterned out against the ground before being enveloped in a cloud of smoke as a large slug taller than buildings if she were to hold herself upright, with blue and white colors patterned on her form.

"Katsuyu-sama!" Mito called from the ground and it was even more startling how large the slug was when compared to the thirteen-year-old Shinobi. "I need your help!"

"Mito-sama," Katsuyu's gentle voice was surprised and Mito couldn't blame her, it had been years since she'd last seen the slug and she'd grown quite a bit since then, "what—?"

The confusion was evident as the slug jerked her head around, taking in the fighting that had broken out in Konoha before recognizing the great snake that had crashed through the wall.

"I need your help," Mito repeated, "I'm going to perform the **Katsuyu: Mouryoujika (Katsuyu: Immense Healing Network),** so I need you to fan out and make contact with all the shinobi and civilians in the village."

The great thing about Katsuyu was that she didn't ask too many questions, so there was no uncertain "Are you sure you can do that?"

"Of course," she said, seizing up slightly as her large form broke down into smaller slugs that filtered through the village, latching onto allies whilst Mito's doppelganger puffed out into smoke, the memories reaching the original in seconds.

The best place to set up the jutsu was the top of Hokage Tower, which overlooked the village and provided enough space to paint the seal jutsu and for her guards to crouch around her without any difficulty.

Her chakra flowed around her, cloaking her in blue as she pressed her hands together, an expression of deep concentration on her face.

It was more difficult than she'd imagined, and she'd imagined it was pretty difficult, and it was even harder to maintain. It felt like hundreds of people were tugging her chakra in every direction, which was a pretty apt description, but she hadn't been aware that so many were injured; the chaos had appeared to be localized, but apparently not.

Mito's teeth ground together and her body shook with strain.

" **You'd probably be dead right now if I hadn't given you any of my chakra,"** Shukaku uttered smugly within the vestiges of her mind.

" _That's not really helping,"_ Mito retorted.

* * *

Matsuri had a blade to her throat and an expressionless porcelain mask staring her in the face, but she'd been expecting that.

It was a well-known fact that all the members of Nara Shikaku's Team One were all foreign-born, and even more well-known was that Matsuri was just months (probably just one at this point) short of completing her apprenticeship to Mito and returning to Suna.

Unfortunately, Suna and Oto were the instigators of the battle and thus Matsuri was a suspect.

"Shishou sent me here," Matsuri breathed, keeping her hands up in the stereotypical sign for surrender, "to keep me out of the way…Jade."

The ANBU's stance relaxed at the codeword. Each of Mito's apprentices and the Medic-nin herself were assigned a codeword to be given to the ANBU guard for Hyuuga Hizashi in case they needed to ascertain the true identity.

Bear had been the most constant of Hizashi's guards and he had seen Matsuri perform all the necessary tests with Fuu and Mito on their patient and they were all by the book (well, they would have had to have been; Mito was strict on hospital protocol, regardless of whether or not they were actually in a hospital).

"Has there been any change?" Matsuri asked, moving towards the still-slumbering body, checking his vitals over with diligence.

"No," Bear intoned, moving back to the shadow of the room's distant corner to better see any attacks that could happen upon them.

The room itself didn't have too much decoration, much like a hospital room. There were daffodils in a vase on the table at Hizashi's bedside that were crispy, clearly more than a few days old, and propped against it were two pictures, one of his old Genin team with Yoshino looking annoyed with her arms crossed with Minato was sheepish on her other side, and Hizashi smiling slightly while Jiraiya beamed above them, and in the second one he was kneeling beside his young son, who was smiling impossibly bright.

Bear surmised that the Hyuuga Head, who just so happened to be Hizashi's twin brother, was the one who had dropped them off; coincidentally, it had been a day that Ox had been the guard.

There was a sudden tremor and Matsuri threw her body over Hizashi's to keep him against the cot and keep him from jolting too much.

The shaking stilled and Matsuri breathed a sigh of relief, but then she started at the sound of the heart monitor beeping loudly and her eyes flashed to it.

Hizashi's heart rate had picked up, like it had once before, only this time it was much faster.

"What the—?"

Hizashi breathed in sharply and the nasal cannula shifted under his nose as another tremor shook the compound.

"Hizashi-san? Can you hear me?" Matsuri appealed to the comatose shinobi, but he gave no indication that he had heard her.

Sadly, that was the norm. They didn't even know if or when he would awaken, but this was possibly the most active he'd been since they'd returned to Konoha…maybe he'd wake up soon.

* * *

The hospital was the most chaotic environment Ino had been in to date, it was horrible, really, Ino couldn't help but be sickened at the fact that so many in the village had been injured.

Fuu was across the lobby, healing a man whose house had fallen on him and Ino was trying to heal a shinobi named Raidou who had been guarding Hokage-sama before he'd been attacked. Unfortunately, Raidou wanted nothing more than to head out into the fray once more, but his injuries were deep.

"Stay still!" Ino ordered.

Even with the help of Katsuyu-sama –the slug that nearly everyone in the room appeared to be plastered with, glowing with healing chakra– it was difficult work.

"I need to—" he started to say.

"You're not going anywhere with your injuries!"

Ino felt a little uncomfortable; she wasn't as used to barking out orders as Mito or Miki were, but it worked out for the better because he relented. Well, no one could say that Ino didn't have a demanding personality.

"You did what?" Miki demanded of the young woman –clearly civilian by her manner of dress– she was healing on a stretcher and Ino looked up at the aghast tone her voice had taken on. "You ripped Katsuyu-sama off when she was trying to heal you?"

"I hate slugs!" the woman complained.

The expression on Miki's face clearly said she wished very much that she could smack her hand against her face, but she relented in order to keep her chakra-glowing hands on her patient –remarkably stupid that her actions were.

"Idiot," Raidou rumbled as Ino returned her attention to repairing the damage done it his chest.

A few precious moments later and Ino had removed her hands. "There, you're done, but—"

He didn't wait for her to insist on going easy, instead, he leapt to his feet and shot out of the hospital's lobby to rejoin the fight, jostling a few newcomers as he did so.

Ino expelled a loud sigh as she watched him go.

"Miki-san? Where do you want me?" she asked, her eyes roving over the slugs that her superior had called Katsuyu-sama. Mito had to be using up an awful lot of chakra in order to maintain a jutsu to blanket the whole village, and hadn't she been running low to begin with?

"Take the front with Sukui," Miki called back and Ino located the spectacle-wearing Medic-nin towards the front and she moved forward to join her.

* * *

This was the exact opposite of what Shikamaru wanted to be doing right now.

Mito's siblings had taken off into the forest and Sasuke had raced after them and now here were Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sakura and a ninken named Pakkun going after Sasuke to stop him.

This day had gotten far too troublesome, if you asked him.

Unfortunately, they also had nine shinobi on their tail and Sakura and Naruto were all for an ambush. Shikamaru sighed; was he the only one that knew strategy around here?

"I thought we might have a chance, but I guess not," he groaned as they leapt through trees.

"Huh?" Sakura said, jerking her head towards him. "Why not?"

And Naruto looked just as confused.

Shikamaru groaned again. "You two are so clueless! Listen up, ambushing the enemy is normally an advantageous battle tactic, but only if these two essential conditions are met." He ticked off one finger. "First, the pursued must be able to move about silently and locate the enemy first." His second finger joined the first. "Second, the pursued must be able to swiftly find, secure, and conceal themselves in a position where they can inflict the most surprise and damage to the chasers."

Shikamaru felt like Iruka-sensei, explaining this to them.

"An ambush is only effective if both conditions can be achieved. In our case…well, since we have a ninken's nose, the first won't be too difficult. But the second…" Shikamaru's eyebrows drew together as he frowned. "The second normally wouldn't be impossible, since we know our own village's terrain better and can pinpoint the best positions for maximum surprise, but that won't fly against minions of a former fellow Konoha shinobi."

"What d'you mean, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked and Shikamaru gave his friend a dry look.

"Our pursuers have studied our geography and practiced in preparation for this attack with mock battles. And they're probably all masters of the pursuit jutsu."

Shikamaru really hated when the pieces on the board were stacked against him.

"Even so, an ambush might still be to our advantage…except that there are too many uncertainties," Shikamaru contemplated out loud. "Besides, our 'friends' were assembled specifically for this plot, while our group is composed of: a dunce with barely any skill in fuuinjutsu—" Naruto scowled at that, but he couldn't deny the truth of the matter; Shikamaru wasn't one to beat around the bush. "—a kunoichi without any particular talent—" Sakura glared. "—a dog, and me, the shirker who doesn't even want to be here."

The corner of his lip drew downwards as his foot connected with a tree branch and he used it to launch into the air beside them.

"You see, battle strategy comes from comprehending your own existing fighting strength and formulating the best possible plan based on that. And so, what's within the realm of possibility for us right now is just one thing."

"One thing?" Sakura queried, glancing towards him.

"A diversionary tactic disguised as an ambush," Shikamaru explained with a grim glint in his eye, "one of us stays behind and delays them by making it look like we're lying in wait."

"A decoy?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.

"That's right, if that person can detain them, the enemy will lose track of the other three, and we'll be able to shake the pursuit. However, the one who gets to be the decoy will most likely die."

Sakura swallowed thickly and Naruto's expression settled into one of unease.

"So…any volunteers? We need the dog in order to find Sasuke which means…" Shikamaru sighed loudly. "I'm the only choice."

"What? No, I'll do it!" Naruto insisted. "You're almost out of chakra!"

Shikamaru smiled grimly. "Then what're you going to do if you run into Gaara? You're the only one who's close to the same chakra-level, with Mito trying to heal the village."

Naruto faltered.

"Besides, even with my low chakra, the only one of us who has any chance of pulling off the decoy act and even possibly surviving is me. The **Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)** is fundamentally a detainment jutsu anyways…I'll catch up with you all later…so hurry up and go!"

And with great regret, they did as he asked.

* * *

Mito was drenched with sweat and breathing heavily. She was running low on her chakra now, dangerously low.

"Mito-san," Yuugao's voice was muffled only slightly from her mask, "you mustn't overexert yourself."

Sometimes Mito really hated Yuugao's motherly nature and she couldn't help but grit her teeth.

"I'm _fine,"_ she bit out, lying right through her teeth.

The jutsu came more easily to her mother, she had to admit, but that was because Tsunade had developed the jutsu herself and she had more chakra stored up than Mito, who, despite being a Jinchuuriki, still didn't have fully developed chakra coils.

A Suna-nin had leapt up onto the roof, aiming a kunai at Mito's throat.

The red-haired shinobi didn't even blink as Mouse caught the blade before it could pierce her skin while Ox thrust a blade right through the shinobi's flak vest.

" **You'll have to stop soon,"** Shukaku reminded her tiredly; her use of his chakra must have been draining.

" _Almost_ … _there_ ," Mito replied.

Then there a great burst of smoke in the forest and a tanuki appeared with a shout of jubilation.

"What is that?" Ox demanded, stunned.

"Great," Mito groaned, "Shukaku's Yin half…just what I needed."

" **Don't blame me for this,"** Shukaku grumbled.

Honestly, Mito had gotten the better end of the deal in gaining Shukaku's Yang half. Shukaku, himself, was a quite bloodthirsty demon to start with, but since Mito got his 'light' side, it wasn't as bad as what Gaara had to deal with. Sadly, Gaara had never been able to work with his side of Shukaku like Mito was with hers.

And closely following the appearance of Shukaku was one of a very large toad. If Mito was a betting girl, she'd say the chances that it was Gamabunta, but a moment later it didn't matter because in Gamabunta's place was the Kyuubi.

Horrified gasps were heard on her sides, but Mito couldn't focus on that as she vainly tried to keep up her jutsu whilst hacking blood onto the ground in front of her.

"Senju-sama," Mouse spoke with a hint of a warning, "you _must_ stop the jutsu, everyone who was injured has either been healed or is beyond healing."

And the jutsu fell before Mito could stop it, breathing hard, her heart beating frantically in her chest.

The exhaustion she felt was one she'd never experienced before, and Mito was no stranger to being run into the ground.

"Katsuyu-sama," she gasped, "has made contact…with everyone in the village…and has dispersed."

And the same could be said for Gamabunta and Shukaku a few moments later.

With Shukaku's disappearance, Mito's anger came back in full force. It bubbled in her veins; the very thought that Suna would betray their alliance and ally with Oto was revolting, but what made it worse was that her siblings had known what they were planning when she'd spent time with them the whole Chuunin Exams.

And that made Mito's rage boil over as she stumbled to her feet and leapt over the edge of the building before Yuugao could call her back.

" **You're going to get yourself killed,"** Shukaku said in a nearly bored manner.

Mito ignored him as she leapt over buildings and into the forest, bypassing several figures completely.

* * *

Naruto felt like his whole body was on fire, but he supposed that it could have been worse. He could at least move a little bit, as opposed to Gaara who seemed to have been sapped of all his energy.

Temari and Kankurou had leapt down to stand protectively before their younger brother whilst Sasuke crouched tensed by Naruto's side, but before any could move, Gaara spoke in his dull rasp: "That's enough. It's over."

"But, Gaara—!" Kankurou turned to look down on him only to be stunned at how spent the Jinchuuriki was. He had never seen Gaara in such a state. "All right, Gaara," he said, moving slowly and carefully to pull his younger brother's arm over his shoulders and pull him up into a standing position.

"Oh no, you _don't!"_ a voice snarled and the three Suna-nin barely had time to turn before a punch collided with Kankurou's side, sending him and Gaara reeling into Temari, all three crumpling to the ground as the five shinobi in the clearing looked to the assailant.

If Gaara was exhausted then Mito was half-dead. Sweat plastered her hair to her skin and seeped through her clothes, her limbs shook with the strain of remaining upright, and there was a crimson stain across her lips.

"You're not –going anywhere," Mito seethed, even as she gasped for breath.

They could have made a break for it, that punch was clearly the last of Mito's energy, but before they even had time to contemplate it, four members of Konoha's ANBU appeared, barring them from making the slightest move.

"Mito-san, please you must rest!" The cat-wearing shinobi with long violet hair had moved to Mito's side as she braced her hands against her knees, breathing for harshly than before.

And the next second Mito was vomiting blood onto the grass and the ANBU was calling for a medic whilst her siblings watched in terror as their sister keeled over.

Mito's dream was hazy and in endless darkness.

Darkness that ended with a door that opened before Mito could even touch it, so Mito stepped through it, only to start at the realization that she was not alone in the room.

The figure wore the same magatama that Mito had patterned against her arm crimson against her kimono, with long sweeping white hair, from which two brown horns protruded.

She opened her eyes, all three of them, and Mito couldn't stop the fear from welling up inside her as the creature lunged forward and Mito screamed.

Mito jerked awake with a startled gasp, even when her body protested, but in the time it had taken her to awaken, the figure had gone.

She breathed in and out heavily, raising a hand to her head, trying to regulate her breathing, and that was when she finally realized something was off.

Instead of her usual garb, Mito was wearing the hospital pajamas that were given to overnight patients and there was an IV taped into her vein.

"Hospital?" she mumbled, a bit confused.

"Yeah, hospital."

She jerked at the sudden voice, twisting her head so fast that her neck cracked as she looked to the speaker.

Yoshino looked as exhausted as Mito felt but she spared her husband's apprentice a smile. "You had a lot of people worried, Mito, after you collapsed in the forest."

Mito frowned, her memory still fuzzy.

"You had the most severe case of chakra debt we've seen in awhile," Yoshino continued, "it might take a few days for your chakra to get back to normal levels."

Mito said nothing to that. "What about my sister and brothers?" she asked instead.

"T&I have them," Yoshino said before nudging her gently back against her pillows, "it's a delicate situation with how Suna had been unaware that Orochimaru was masquerading as their Kazekage."

Mito grimaced, remembering the last time she'd seen her father, back when she and Matsuri had left Suna.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, he's your father, isn't he?"

Mito scowled, looking away. "I never had a father."

Her hands clenched into fists in her sheets and Yoshino smiled sadly, leaning down to press a kiss to her brow like Mito's mother had done before she left her to Konoha.

Yoshino didn't say anything as she enveloped the young girl in her arms, feeling the tension in her shoulders and she knew that if she pulled back she would see tears in her eyes, because as indifferent as Mito might try to act, her father's love had always been something she'd desired, and Orochimaru had robbed her of that.

Soothing circles were rubbed into her back as Yoshino hummed softly. Yoshino didn't want to be the one to tell her that the Hokage was as dead as her father.

Maybe they'd give her some time to deal with the idea of Sabaku no Rasa's death before dropping Sarutobi Hiruzen's on her.

But shinobi were never that lucky.


	25. What Remains

All things considered, she could have appeared worse, Morino Ibiki conceded.

Senju Mito was still garbed in the dark clothes she had worn to the funeral of the Sandaime and the few that had been beyond saving by her remote healing. Ibiki had been impressed by her utilization of the technique and then her efforts to subdue her siblings.

Her eyes were a little puffy but other than that appeared relatively normal, barring the crutch she had under one arm.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to release them?" she asked, glancing down the dark corridor where her siblings were being held.

Ibiki grunted. "Inoichi's been through there memories. It seems they had no idea that their Kage was dead and Orochimaru had taken his place. They pose no immediate threat, but Suna and Konoha are still in the midst of sorting out a new treaty after Suna gave us there complete surrender."

Mito said nothing to that, her eyes dark even in the half-light. "And you thought putting them under house arrest with me is a good idea? I don't have time to babysit—" The Hokage was dead, but that didn't mean her job as his assistant was done. In the absence before a new Hokage was chosen, Shikaku was the one in charge of handing out missions to other shinobi, but he and Mito were splitting the load, because that was generally something Mito had done for the Sandaime, so he handled the upper class missions and she handled the lower class.

And they had to make sure that the village, in its weakened state, was still protected. The whole issue was troublesome, but neither one complained.

"They'll have an ANBU guard on them, and chakra seals just in case, the elders just think it would be better when they and Suna come to an agreement that the children of the Kazekage don't look like they've been holed up in a cell for a few weeks," Ibiki said with a short shrug.

Mito's shoulders tensed and then she sighed. "Well, we've already got one ANBU on the premise at all times, what's going to be the difference of adding another?"

Ibiki's eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't have a response to that; it was probably above his pay grade, anyways.

"What about Gaara?" Mito asked, biting on the corner of his lip. "Is he still…?"

"Jiraiya-sama took a look at his seal," Ibiki replied, knowing where her mind was going, "he declared it to be the worst seal he'd ever seen—" A small smile appeared on Mito's lips. "—but removing an active seal is incredibly dangerous so the best he could do was add a seal on top of the original. He described it as a kind of patch-work seal, to fill in the gaps that the original allowed."

She bobbed her head in understanding. "Send word when you want to release them."

And then she vanished in a poof of smoke, leaving Ibiki to grumble, because he'd been ready to release them then and there.

* * *

"I feel like such an idiot," Mito sighed, leaning her head back so it made contact with the trunk of the tree they were sitting under, scowling up at the leaves, the green that was brighter from the sunlight. "Trusting them…"

Shikamaru's head was resting comfortably on her lap and his eyes were closed, giving the appearance of sleep, but Mito knew him well enough that he was merely resting your eyes.

"They're your family," he said, "you shouldn't have had to be wary about them."

Mito tugged on a fiery lock of hair that she had inherited with her twin. "Maybe if we'd been from the same village, that might have been true."

Shikamaru blinked his eyes open, narrowing them in the harsh light of the sun. "They were duped too, you know."

Mito scowled.

"I'm just saying," Shikamaru said a bit defensively as he sat up and turned around to face her. "They thought they were following the orders of their Kage, what would you have done differently?"

There seemed to be an internal struggle within his girlfriend and Shikamaru watched the differing emotions flit across her face before she gave him a petulant expression.

"I hate that you know me so well," she complained and Shikamaru snorted.

"No, you don't," he replied, rolling his eyes.

" _Oh!"_ Mito blinked owlishly as she dropped her fist into her hand. "I never got to ask, how did things go with your grandmother? I left halfway through."

Shikamaru groaned, flopping backwards onto his back and subsequently almost went rolling down the hill.

" _Terrible!"_ he complained before tilting his head to look up to where she was. "Why did you leave me with her?"

"You had Shikaku-sensei and Yoshino-san to keep you company," Mito said airily, waving her hand carelessly, "I mean, how bad could it be?"

"Kaa-san and Kazumi got in a shouting match," Shikamaru told her dryly, and it was very telling to her that he referred to his grandmother by her given name rather than calling her 'obaa-san'. "Oyaji actually had to throw her out."

Mito's jaw unhinged. "You're joking, right?"

She couldn't imagine Shikaku throwing anyone out, no matter how much distaste he felt towards them.

"Best part about dinner," Shikamaru said with a yawn, "you should have stuck around."

Mito gave a small laugh. "Well, it would have been less exhausting, that's for sure."

Tenzou was a hard task-manager, that was to be sure, but at least now she knew a few techniques for the Mokuton, which was more than she'd had to start with. Having one Kekkei Genkai had been hard enough, but two? Mito still wasn't anywhere close to having mastery over the Futton…but there were many shinobi who had more than one Kekkei Genkai, Mito knew the Mizukage, Terumi Mei, possessed both the Futton and the Youton.

But Mei was a master at her Kekkei Genkai, and Mito was a novice.

"I have to get back to work," Mito said, sitting up and running her fingers through her hair to check for leaves. "And then I have to make dinner for my traitorous relatives."

"Have fun," Shikamaru drawled before Mito leaned over sharply to hover over him, and he arched an eyebrow at her.

"You and I should do something soon," she said, a light in her eyes.

"Something?" Shikamaru smirked.

"No shogi, just you and me. What d'you say?" Mito grinned widely.

It had been awhile since they'd had what Ino liked to call a 'real date,' and Mito would kill for some time to herself, especially since she was rather busy most days.

"You're on," Shikamaru said, raising a hand to cup her cheek, his thumb smoothing over the slash-mark on her cheek.

And then he kissed her and Mito smiled against his lips.

* * *

The Senju compound was rather silent, but that was to be expected, as most of the Senju were dead.

None of the Sabakus had seen Mito since they'd been released into her custody, and that had been hours ago.

"I never imagined I'd hate the silent treatment so much," Kankurou muttered and Temari gave a small jerk of her head.

The room was large enough for the three of them to fit in it quite comfortably. It was probably one of the larger rooms in the compound, and it had hardly anything within in.

Old habits died hard with Kankurou and Temari who sat a bit away from their younger brother who had hardly spoken since they'd been detained and hadn't moved since they'd arrived at the Senju compound.

The ANBU guard stood like a statue in the corner.

"How do you think the talks between Suna and Konoha are going?" Kankurou took another stab at conversation.

"Probably better than they were two days ago," Temari replied, her green eyes cloudy.

The realization that their father had been killed more than a month previously and Orochimaru had worn his skin as a disguise was sickening, but the siblings had always been a bit emotionally distant with their father, so it didn't hurt nearly as much as they'd expected it to.

The man had attempted to have Gaara assassinated more times than he could count; he would shed no tears over him.

He jerked his head up when the door opened abruptly and Mito stepped inside.

Emotion had been blanked from her face in a manner eerily reminiscent of Gaara's typical expression, but, then again, it was one he had learned from her.

Her eyes narrowed as she stepped forward to plop herself on the floor in front of her twin and he blinked in surprise.

"You and I need to have a private conversation," she said before pressing her hand against his forehead and closed her eyes as Gaara did the same.

And Gaara found himself in a very unfamiliar place, staring at a rusty cage within which rested a large tanuki. The cage was very weak and seemed to be composed almost entirely of seals.

"What—?" he voiced in confusion.

"Shukaku," Mito spoke the name beside him and he turned to see her eyes gleaming as she smiled up at the demon, "I have to say I prefer my half to you…he's at least got some taste."

Shukaku growled and shook his cage **. "Little girl! Come in here so I can rip you to shreds!"**

Mito's lips curled upwards. "I don't think so. Besides, it's not you I'm here for."

And the cage seemed to fade away, leaving Mito alone with Gaara.

"That's better," she sighed, rolling her shoulders, "sometimes he just grates on my nerves, you know? It makes me glad my Shukaku actually works with me."

"Your Shukaku?" Gaara repeated blankly.

Her lips twisted and he wondered if she wanted to smile at him like she had Shukaku. "The first and the ninth are considered the strongest of the Bijuu. They are ones that require two Jinchuuriki to contain them. Even the previous Shukaku Jinchuuriki, Bunpuku could not contain him completely."

Mito wrinkled her nose. "Perhaps it was luck that Kaa-sama was pregnant with twins when Rasa sealed the Shukaku into us, or maybe fate, I suppose, if you believe in that sort of thing."

It was possibly the longest conversation she'd had with her twin since her untimely leaving of Suna. But Mito was also doing most of the talking.

"Kaa-sama tried fix the seal that Rasa used, but it only ended up working on me, you got the shoddy seal, which explains a lot about how Shukaku was able to influence you so much."

Gaara could remember when they were small, how Mito always played with him, a bright smile on her face, even though they lived separate from one another, under the care of two very different guardians. And every time someone had looked at him the wrong way…

"You," he rasped in his low voice, staring at her as though he had only just begun to see her, "tried to protect me."

Mito tilted her head. "Of course I tried to protect you, you're my brother." She looked a little annoyed. "You were softer and kinder than me, you needed protection more than I did." Her eyes softened. "Maybe you still are."

Gaara looked downwards, to the reflection in the water rippling beneath his feet. His hair was the color of the blood he'd spilled from his enemies, the kanji on his forehead a mark of his anger towards the emotion of love itself, to choose to love only himself, and his eyes were cold jade, the eyes of a killer.

"I…don't know what I am," Gaara said quietly.

Mito raised both her hands to cover one of his and jade met violet. "Why don't we find out?"

And she gave him a smile like the ones she gave him when they were children, bright and full of promise.

And then she looked a little embarrassed. "Of course, most people assume that there's only one Jinchuuriki per Bijuu, and most people just assume I'm a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki that gained some of the Shukaku's chakra through being in the same womb as a true Jinchuuriki. Not a lot of people know what I am."

The unspoken "Don't tell anyone" went without saying.

And then both opened their eyes in the room at the Senju compound with both their siblings looking at them, wondering what was going on.

Mito moved back so that she wasn't directly in front of her twin and could see her siblings with ease. "Now," she said, "we are going to talk and then we are going to have dinner like civilized human beings."

That seemed rather sudden; up to this point, she'd given off the appearance of being rather aloof and cold after their betrayal.

She crossed her arms and scowled at all three of them.

"I think you're all a bunch of morons," she told them shortly, "you and all of Suna. You couldn't even tell if the Kazekage was someone else other than your own father…" She released a sharp breath of air as she sighed. "But the point is moot; we have both lost our Kage. And, as Sensei likes to say," she said with a frown of annoyance, "sometimes emotion has no place in reason."

From what she had read about the policies Tobirama-ojii had enacted, he was probably of a similar mindset.

"What's done is done and a new treaty is being negotiated between our two villages…and that bastard Orochimaru…" Mito gritted her teeth. He had experimented on her like an animal once and now a man she had greatly admired was dead.

"To even consider working with Orochimaru makes you wonder what the hell was wrong with your village in the first place, there's some serious brain deficiency to consider."

" _Hey!"_ Kankurou complained, speaking up for the first time since his younger sister had entered the room, but Mito's glare quelled his anger.

"You know him," Temari realized, "personally."

The undercurrent of hate when she had said his name couldn't have made it plainer.

Mito puffed out her cheeks, annoyance clear, but the expression was a bit funny, given how serious she'd been previously.

"My sudden appearance in Konoha was always treated with the highest suspicion," Mito began, "especially since I carried the Senju name and looked nothing like the only remaining Senju, but no matter how many tests they ran on my blood, the result was the same, I was of the Senju clan."

"What does—?" Kankurou began in confusion but Temari shushed him.

"I had only just returned from a rather difficult mission when I first met Orochimaru," Mito said, "I was exhausted, even if it wasn't too late, and I'd promised Shikamaru-kun that I'd stop by when I came back but I decided to just head home. I was on the deserted street and then I lost consciousness."

Mito shook her head fondly. "Apparently Shikamaru-kun decided to check up on me and he found my necklace on the ground. He knew there was no way I'd part with it willingly, so he ran and found the first Tracker-nin he could find, Inuzuka Hana." She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Orochimaru has always been a bit obsessed with the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama, in particular, his Mokuton style, experimenting with the DNA in the hopes of bringing the Kekkei Genkai back…for the most part, his experiments failed and fifty-nine children died before he was exiled from the village, but that didn't really stop him from experimenting."

Her hands tightened into fists on her lap. "He'd heard word of a Senju returning to Konoha and he thought perhaps being a Senju to start with might have been the key ingredient he'd been missing all along, so he injected me with the Shodaime's DNA…but the only affect it had was make me feel like a was burning from the inside out."

She lifted her eyes to give them all level stares before standing. "Dinner will be in ten minutes."

And then she left them alone.

Temari could feel bile roiling in her stomach and Kankurou was horrified, wondering just how young Mito had been when all that had happened, and imagining just how painful it could have been.

Mito shut the door swiftly behind her in time to see her apprentices walking into the compound with their arms full of scrolls concerning medical procedures and Medical Ninjutsu Techniques.

"Have you two been in the underground archive again?" she asked a bit bemused.

The underground archive was the place in Konoha that held the most about Medical Ninjutsu, and it was where Mito had first started teaching Ino.

" _No!"_

"Yes."

Matsuri flushed even with her denial before shooting a scowl towards her fellow apprentice who hadn't even bothered to lie.

An eyebrow was arched by that response.

"Well," Matsuri muttered evasively, "my training's almost done so I want to get as much as I can out before I leave."

"And I'm just tagging along to keep her company," Fuu said cheerfully and the Suna-born shinobi rolled her eyes, but Mito knew better, after all, Fuu was still studying Medical Ninjutsu.

"Can you show us the **Byakugou no In (Strength of a Hundred Seal)** tomorrow?" Matsuri piped up.

Mito had told them about the techniques that branched from storing chakra, but the storing of chakra itself was far more difficult. Only truly exceptional Medic-nin could manage it, even though many had tried.

"We'll see," Mito said, "it all depends on how good your chakra control is."

Fuu and Ino were going to be great Medic-nin one day, but neither had the kind of chakra control that Matsuri did. Though now both did have great chakra reserves, and it was always good to have a capable Medic-nin around.

And Matsuri beamed.

* * *

When Tenten saw Mito the first time since the Konoha Crush, it was to watch her lugging a large scroll in the direction of her compound.

"Mito-san!" she waved her hand and the Senju heir started before squinting in their direction.

As it was, Tenten and Neji had just come from sparring in one of the training fields. As Lee was still suffering from the injuries he had sustained in the second part of the Chuunin Exams, their Genin squad couldn't do much in the village apart from helping with repairs.

"Do you need some help?" Tenten asked her fellow shinobi kindly.

She must not have been back to full strength, as it seemed that the weight of the scroll was giving her trouble, and being caught needing help caused sheepish embarrassment to spread across her face.

"Thanks, Tenten-san," Mito said, "usually I'd have no problem with something like this…"

She scratched her cheek as the brunette lifted the scroll with ease, despite its weight. "What's in this, anyways?" Tenten asked, scrutinizing it as Neji came closer. "A summoning?"

"No," Mito laughed, "I keep that one in my room; this is for Genin and Chuunin assignments."

"Please tell me you'll give us something that gets us out of the village!" Tenten's eyes had gone big and pleading, like the ones she often used on Gai.

Mito arched an eyebrow. "That desperate? Besides, I'd have to split other teams up to supplement another member for your three-man squad."

Tenten deflated. "Oh."

The violet-eyed shinobi gave her a sheepish smile. "I'll just see if there are any good missions for anyone with your skill set, all right?"

Before Tenten or even Neji, who had been entirely silent during the exchange, could say anything, a loud voice had pierced the air.

"Hey! You've been avoiding me!"

It was the proctor for the last part of the exam and he looked rather vexed as he stormed up to Mito.

"Ah, Genma-san," Mito said with a smile, "why would I bother avoiding you? I mean, I only saved your best friend from death a few days ago—"

"And _lied_ about it!" Genma growled, jabbing a finger in her face.

Mito crossed her arms, looking a bit unperturbed by his response, though still a little annoyed. "What d'you want me to say? _Sorry_? I found Hayate-san bleeding to death by a Fuuton jutsu, attacked by a Suna-nin. I saved his life and passed on his message of who'd attacked him only to be questioned as to whether I was capable of choosing between my village and my family, the answer, in case it wasn't obvious, is _yes_." As she continued, she grew steadily more heated and Tenten and Neji couldn't help but stare. "And then I went and remotely healed the whole damn _village_ , Genma-san! Can you remotely heal a whole village? _No, of course not!_ But by all means, complain about _one little lie!"_

"Uh…" The man was staring at her agape, the senbon falling out of his mouth as he stared at her. Whatever response he'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.

But it seemed that her heated response had taken most of the energy out of her and she lost her footing, falling onto her back on the ground, or, at least she would have, had a darkly-clad figure not caught her carefully in his arms.

"That idiot!"

Yamanaka Ino came to a stop beside the boy holding her friend, her expression going right past annoyed straight to aggravated.

"I knew she was going to overexert herself, but did she listen to me? _No!"_ Ino complained as she pressed her green-chakra glowing hands against her friend's chest.

"She'll be all right?"

Neji blinked, recognizing the voice that had belonged to Sabaku no Kankurou, but the older boy was almost unrecognizable without his purple war paint. He held his younger sister's form with careful hands and Neji wondered just how difficult it had been to attack the village he had known his younger sister was allied with.

"She'll be fine, once she gets some rest for a change," Ino muttered with a scowl, "I don't know how someone can be apprenticed to Shikaku-oji and manage to be a workaholic."

Kankurou gave a soft snort as Mito opened her eyes tiredly, blinking at her older brother in confusion.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the compound?" she asked him blankly.

Her brother arched an eyebrow. "You know that the house arrest is technically for staying within Konoha's borders, right?"

Mito blinked. "It is?"

"Exhaustion's probably confusing her," Ino said with a sigh, removing her hands and scowling at her friend. "I was coming to check on you, you know, but apparently you'd decided to use some more chakra when you were told to refrain from doing so!"

If Mito was miffed, she didn't let it on. "I was checking on Hinata's tenketsu."

Neji stiffened beside Tenten and it didn't take a genius to see why. He had been the reason Hinata had resorted to using her Kinjutsu in the first place, by pressing all of her tenketsu and leaving her with the only option of blowing them all open in an effort to prove her worth.

"Oh," Ino said simply, "and how'd that go?"

"I only managed the ones close to her eyes before I ran out of chakra," Mito sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head against Kankurou's arm.

Ino made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. "She'll probably be out in a few seconds… _idiot."_

Kankurou wasn't the only one who noticed how fondly she said the last word.

Mito had been suffering from chakra exhaustion after the Konoha Crush for expending all of her chakra during her remote healing, and she'd been restricted from using chakra so as to restore her chakra levels to normal as it took a longer time for them to do so after complete chakra depletion.

She'd probably need to sleep the rest of the day off.

Ino jabbed a finger at Genma, glowering darkly enough that the man was instantly reminded of her father. "No. Stress."

Genma muttered something unsavory under his breath only to release a groan when her finger made contact with his bruised ribs.

Kankurou watched her in amusement as she took the scroll that Tenten offered her, seeing as it was technically Mito's, before watching them walk off, noticing the pair were almost close enough for their shoulders to brush, but not quite.

Tenten's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

* * *

Temari glared at her opponent, but he seemed rather unfazed as he took her king with ease before preparing another game.

"Two out of three?" Shikamaru asked lazily, leaning his head on his hand.

Temari hated losing. She only won their match in the Chuunin Exams because Shikamaru had given up and he clearly outmatched her in strategy, something that rarely happened.

"You're on," Temari said before glancing around. "Where'd Kankurou go?"

Mito and Matsuri were sitting in the ground while Mito explained a technique to her. Chouji was off to the side with Fuu, listening in, but not actively, both chewing on a few chips.

Gaara stayed in the room most days. He was as quiet as he'd been before Naruto had knocked sense into him, but that quiet had been terrifying, now it was like…he was confused and trying to make sense of things.

"Well," Shikamaru snorted, "Ino did break his last puppet."

It was only yesterday that they had been deemed to be not a flight risk and had their chakra seals removed, and as soon as it had been done, Kankurou had challenged Ino to a duel.

Temari didn't know what possessed him to think that was a good idea to go against Mito's apprentice, who clearly excelled in close combat, from what could have been seen in the exams, but, then again, it was hard to sometimes see how Kankurou's mind worked.

"Why are you really here?" she asked him instead. "Doesn't your team have better things to do than hang out with a few traitors?"

Shikamaru glanced up as he moved a piece across the board. "Not really. Mito's the one in charge of assigning missions for our age group, besides…its better send more experienced shinobi out of the village, and we don't help with reconstruction until later."

Temari glanced towards Mito, drawing carefully in the sand while Matsuri asked her question after question.

"The village elders trust the opinion of a thirteen year old Genin?" she asked doubtfully.

Shikamaru snorted at that. "The village elders don't trust her at all…I think one of them tried to have her killed, actually." Temari scowled at that. It seemed like the twins faced distaste of village elders in both their prospective villages. "Besides, Mito's been the Hokage's assistant since she got back; more than half the orders the Hokage gave were her suggestions."

Of course, most of the orders she'd given weren't of high importance, but she did at least lighten the load for the Hokage.

Shikamaru's eyes flitted over to where his girlfriend was sitting, the sunlight falling over her and Matsuri, making her hair seem brighter and her eyes shine. And she lifted those same eyes to catch him looking at her and she turned a faint pink, smiling all the same.

Temari muffled a complaint as he took her silver general. "How did you ever end up with my little sister, anyways?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, looking towards her briefly. "We were friends for years, as Ino likes to say, 'love blossomed.'"

Temari's eyebrows drew together in confusion.

They didn't seem like very much of a couple, if you asked Temari, not that she knew any couples…they were very…private. Of course, Temari had seen Mito kiss Shikamaru and had seen the pair hold hands, but she would have thought two people who were dating would be a bit more obvious.

"You two are so _odd,"_ she muttered.

Shikamaru gave a half-shrug, unperturbed by her assessment before taking her king once again.

" _Dammit!"_

A light laugh followed her curse as Mito made her way to their side, taking in the pieces on the board, tilting her head.

"The sound of someone losing to Shikamaru-kun," Mito said with twinkling eyes, "it's been awhile since that's been me."

"Only because you've been too busy to play against me," Shikamaru drawled, quirking an eyebrow at her.

Temari glanced between the two. Mito seemed to brighten in Shikamaru's presence and he seemed to become just a bit more open in hers.

They might not have been an orthodox couple, but she could understand; they were like two pieces of a very complicated puzzle where subtlety was key.

* * *

"You're the only one I actually want to consider attempting this technique," Mito warned. "This is a technique not to be taken likely, and your fine chakra control is the only reason I'm suggesting it to you."

Matsuri nodded seriously. Ino and Fuu were equally strong by their own rights, but Ino was technically done with her Medical Ninjutsu training and was now working hard at her family's Hiden jutsu while Fuu had a few months to go before she could be officially considered a Medic-nin. And while both had as large chakra coils as she did, probably a bit larger, to be perfectly honest, her chakra control was much better.

"In order to keep a large amount of chakra in reserve, you must build it up over the course of three years."

"It took you three years to store up enough chakra?" Mito had told them about the technique before, but Matsuri hadn't really taken it as seriously as she should have.

"It took me one year," Mito replied, "because I had more chakra to spare…think of it like this."

She drew a circle in the ground. "This is the amount of chakra you have every day, whether you use it or not." She drew a second circle and connected the two. "This is where you store your chakra for this technique."

Matsuri's eyebrows furrowed. "But if you store your chakra, wouldn't that make it harder on you during missions or surgeries."

"That's why normally one only stores a certain amount of chakra each day," Mito explained. "If you're off duty then you can divert more of your chakra to storing for this technique, but it is better if you only store a set amount each day because you have to maintain that condition for three years while the 'storage area' fills with chakra."

Matsuri nodded seriously. She could do this!

* * *

The birds twittered happily as Kakashi leaned against the railing near Jiraiya, taking note of the privacy seals set up.

"It's been a long time," Kakashi said. "How long has it been since you've been back to the village?"

A small grimace formed momentarily on the Sannin's lips. Back in the day, he had actually visited the village a lot, despite running off to set up his spy network. He had been there the day Hizashi's wife had given birth to Neji and when Yoshino had Shikamaru…and when Kushina had found out she was pregnant. Tsunade had made fun of him: "Just how many godsons did you con your students out of?" (The joke was on her when she named Jiraiya Mito's godfather after she formally adopted the girl)

But then Minato had died sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto, and Hizashi had been killed to stop a war with Kumo, and Yoshino took a leave from the shinobi corps to spend more time with her family.

Jiraiya chose not to answer that, and Kakashi didn't really need an answer. "Kakashi," he said, turning to glance to the silver-haired Jounin, "I will keep Naruto under my care."

His words surprised Kakashi.

"It was an understandable decision of the Sandaime to appoint you to watch over Naruto," Jiraiya continued. "But even at your level, you may not be able to handle it properly."

"What in the world are you saying?" Kakashi asked, tilting his head to look at him properly.

"I've been observing Orochimaru since he left the village…It was obvious he would return to the village sooner or later. At first, I was only concerned about him, but…" Jiraiya's eyes narrowed and Kakashi's interest was piqued.

"What is it?" he asked.

"He joined an organization."

"An organization?" Kakashi repeated, unease spilling into his stomach. "What are the details of this organization?"

"I don't know much on the details, but it's a small organization called the Akatsuki made up of nine shinobi," Jiraiya replied. "Until recently, they weren't making any drastic moves, except some cloak and dagger activity. The biggest concern is the members of the organization are all listed in the Bingo Book as S-rank deviant criminals…that Uchiha Itachi is one of them."

Kakashi inhaled sharply in surprise.

"If all nine of them get together, their intent will not be volunteer activities," Jiraiya said seriously. "Since you've been told this much, you already know what it means…But recently Orochimaru pulled out of the organization and at that time other members of the organization went in to action in different areas, in pairs, gathering jutsu and the like."

"Is there any proof that one of the things they're hoping to obtain is the Kyuubi?" Kakashi asked carefully.

Jiraiya expelled a low sigh. "How much do you know about that Medic-nin Fuu?"

"Fuu?" Kakashi didn't hide his surprise very well. The dark-skinned Medic-nin had an abrasive personality and immensely disliked anyone saying anything negative about her sensei. "Not much. She was born in Taki and spent some time assisting the medical program in Kiri before she was vetted as a shinobi here, why?"

Jiraiya accepted his information with a nod, so Kakashi had to guess that he'd known that much already. "A few months back there was chatter in my spy network about something going down in Taki…it was such short notice that the Sandaime had to assign an S-rank mission to the closest shinobi to the area, an ANBU on a training sabbatical."

"Senju Mito," Kakashi surmised. She was the only ANBU that had left for a year-long training sabbatical at the time he had specified.

"Mito came across two members of the Akatsuki in time to see them rip a Bijuu out of a Jinchuuriki."

Kakashi's stunned expression was for the most part hidden by his mask. "What would the Akatsuki want with a Bijuu?"

"I'm uncertain, but removing the Bijuu from the Jinchuuriki kills them instantly," Jiraiya said, "and Fuu was dead before she hit the ground."

"Then how is she still walking around?"

"Mito overloading her chakra network and restarted her heart," Jiraiya said, grinning wryly. "She overdid it a little, but I hear the girl's well on her way to becoming a fine Medic-nin."

But Kakashi's thoughts were running wild. The amount of chakra that was needed to overload the chakra network was substantial…and the chakra used in the remote healing of the whole village was even larger…just how much chakra did Senju Mito have access to?

* * *

The next day Gaara found himself actually sitting on the engawa in the bright sunlight, as opposed to hiding in the shadowed room, as he was used to doing.

There was a deep frown on his face as he gathered his thoughts.

" _You should have a purpose,"_ Mito told him, _"you know, something that gives your life meaning…killing people shouldn't be your purpose…like, Naruto's dream to become Hokage, it's the thing that keeps him going, the thing that inspires him to train hard."_

" _What about you?"_ Gaara had asked. _"What is your purpose?"_

Mito had given him a blinding smile, knocking his shoulder with her arm. _"Don't you know? To protect the people precious to me!"_

 _To protect the people precious to me…that would be a worthy goal_ , Gaara thought.

Of course, then there was the issue of what he could consider precious to him. The relationship he'd had with his siblings had always been rather frayed, and only now was it starting to mend, slowly but surely.

Kankurou and Temari didn't jump every time he entered a room, and Temari was speaking to him more while Kankurou gave him a few grins.

It was progress, as Mito had assured him, but Gaara still felt like he should be doing something more.

"Um, Gaara-sama?"

Gaara looked up. It was the Suna-nin that was apprenticed to his twin…he searched for her name before he recalled it to be Matsuri.

There was sand plastered to her skin, mixed with sweat, and Gaara was sure that she had just come from training.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my iron sand," Matsuri said, flushing red, though Gaara wasn't certain as to why. "You're the only one who has a technique similar to mine…"

Gaara considered her. "I will help you," he decided after a moment.

"Really?" Pleasure flooded her face briefly before they were interrupted.

"No! Absolutely _not!_ I won't go!"

Mito was glaring at her godfather with a kind of fire that Gaara hadn't seen since she'd stopped them from returning to Suna.

"Mito, be reasonable," Jiraiya appealed to her. "She's your—"

"I know what she is thank you very much!" Mito snapped, violet eyes dark. "If you want her for the Godaime Hokage, you'll be getting her without me!"

"Mito! _Mito!"_ Jiraiya called after her, but she stormed off without any sign of stopping.

"I can't wait to see what happens when Tsunade-sama comes back and Mito sees her," Fuu cackled to Matsuri as she walked past, "I'll pay money to see that fight."

Gaara kept his confusion in his silence.

* * *

Yamanaka Flowers had to be around here somewhere…Matsuri was lost in the crowd of people and she couldn't even remember when Ino worked some days, but she was sure it was around the next corner!

What Matsuri really needed was some help with identifying the components of an antidote to a poison that she'd concocted, and the person who knew the most about plants among them was Ino, so Matsuri had shot off to find her fellow apprentice.

In her haste, the Suna-born shinobi had tripped and run into a traveler.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized quickly before her brain caught up with her eyes and she saw the red clouds on the black coats.

" _If you ever see someone with a black coat that has red clouds on it_ ," Fuu had told her seriously, _"run, and don't stop."_

The story of how Fuu had died eventually came out and Matsuri had took that advice to heart, so she hightailed away, rounding the corner, feeling relief pool inside her when she saw the Yamanaka Flowers sign.

* * *

"You would think you'd never seen flowers before," Ino mentioned from behind the counter with a small smirk as she watched Kankurou stare at the vast amount of flowers in the shop.

She didn't know why the shinobi had asked her if he could join her at her shop while she worked, but it was only two hours today and Kankurou was _very_ hot…not that she'd tell him that.

"Not a lot of plants grow in the desert," Kankurou said, his fingers lingering on the petals of a freesia blossom. "What we grow we use for medicine or poison."

Ino's lips curled into a smile.

"What?" he asked, turning to see it present on her lips.

"It's just, that's Mito's favorite flower," Ino laughed, gesturing towards the one he had touched. "Shikamaru gets it for her sometimes…so no flowers in the desert?"

"No, except for the desert rose," Kankurou said. The desert rose was an odd flower strewn through the desert, peeking out of the tundra with its red and white stained petals. It looked nothing like a rose typically looked, in fact, it looked a bit like a lily, but the name had stuck. "You'll find them without too much effort…my father gave my mother a bouquet of them when he asked her to marry him." At least, that was what Yashamaru had said.

Ino turned the conversation from the flowers, for which Kankurou was grateful. "I'm sorry about wrecking your puppet; Mito told me how much they mean to you."

"Puppets can be fixed, don't worry," Kankurou gave her a half-smile, secretly pleased when she flushed pink. "I should have known better; you've got a mean right hook." But he'd also wanted to see her in action, up close, and she hadn't disappointed.

Ino tugged on the lock of blonde that fell over her eye. "Thanks, I—"

But they were both interrupted by Matsuri lurching through the door before shutting it quick behind her, breathing hard.

"Matsuri?" Ino asked startled. "What's—?"

"Naruto-san and Gaara-sama have to leave now!" Matsuri gasped.

"Naruto left the village this morning, remember?" Ino said, looking at her oddly while Kankurou frowned in confusion. "Why does Gaara need to leave?"

"It's the shinobi in black coats with red clouds," Matsuri said, still struggling to regain her breathing. "The same ones that killed Fuu."

"What?" Kankurou goggled.

"I'll explain that later," Ino told him before returning her attention to Matsuri. "If they're here for Naruto, they probably don't know about Gaara, which is good for us…the bad thing is, Jiraiya-sama and Naruto don't know about them…"

Ino had spent far too much time with strategists.

The best course of action would probably be to go after the Sannin and his exuberant companion themselves…as Shikamaru would say, _Troublesome._


	26. The Akatsuki's Skill

Temari was cleaning her tessen while Gaara and Mito drank tea (she didn't really understand the appeal, but Gaara seemed to like it, so there was that) when Kankurou burst into the compound like a raging ox.

"What the hell, Kankurou?" Temari demanded, glaring at him as he struggled to regain his breathing, sagging in relief when he caught sight of Gaara.

"Good," he breathed, "you're all right."

The concern over Gaara wasn't something that had suddenly developed, Kankurou had always had that towards his younger brother, as did Temari, even when it had been clear that Gaara cared neither if they lived or died. But now it was different, now Gaara was trying to redefine his family ties and the Sabakus (including their Senju sister) were communicating better than they had before, and now the worry was clear as day on Kankurou's face.

"Should I not be?" Gaara asked, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.

"Well, Matsuri—" Kankurou didn't have any time to explain when Ino and Matsuri made their way into the compound, closely followed by a bemused Fuu still wearing the doctor's coat she wore when on duty at the hospital.

Mito set down her cup and quirked an eyebrow. "Did something happen, Matsuri?"

Matsuri and Ino were not out of breath like Kankurou, their training had long since increased their stamina, and it was clear that Fuu had walked from the hospital and happened to see the others arriving at the compound in a rush.

"Black coat with red clouds!" Matsuri gasped and the effect was immediate.

Fuu went positively white, swaying dangerously on her feet while Mito's shoulders tensed. Whatever it was, it meant something quite significant to them.

"Describe them," Mito all but barked as Ino steered Fuu to the engawa to force her off her feet.

"Um…one was dark-haired," Matsuri said, wracking her memory. "I think the other one was a little…blue?"

Fuu fainted.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame," Mito spoke the names carefully, like one stating a fact.

"Uchiha?" Gaara said, glancing towards his twin.

"Sasuke-san's older brother," Mito said with a nod, "he massacred his whole clan, save for his brother…I treated his eyes once, he was very polite."

Kankurou goggled at her. "You treated the eyes of a Missing-nin?"

Mito shrugged. "I was undercover in Iwa and needed a way out of the country just as much as he needed someone to look at his eyes, we helped each other." She ran a hand through her hair. "The last time I saw him was when he and Hoshigaki removed the Nanabi from Fuu, which killed her instantly."

Temari's shock was better hidden as she glanced towards the Taki-born shinobi. "She looks pretty good for a dead girl."

Mito rolled her eyes before returning to the matter at hand. "They're probably here for Naruto since now is the lowest our security's been since the attack caused serious damage…Jiraiya-oji probably doesn't have any idea the Akatsuki's on his trail."

She sighed mournfully. "I can't go after him myself, obviously."

"Why not?" Ino asked her flummoxed.

Gaara's fingers twitched and Mito waved her own in reply. Their silent communication was as odd as the one that was between Mito and Shikamaru, but the one between the twins was more effortless.

"She's not Mito," Gaara said and several pairs of eyes turned towards the red-haired girl who gave a sheepish smile.

"Not the original at least, I'm just a kagebunshin," she said, lifting her arms helplessly. "And I'm supposed to use as little chakra as possible—"

Ino grabbed the kagebunshin by her haori –Mito's favorite haori– jerking her up as she glared at her heatedly. _"Where the hell is she?!"_

"In the mountains," the kagebunshin replied unflinchingly. "She left when Naruto and Jiraiya-oji went to collect her mother. She's working on her Mokuton."

Ino released her, sullen but satisfied. "Of _course_ she is." Mito had always been tight-lipped about her mother and some problems were easier to run from.

"In her stead, a squad comprised of fast shinobi should be sent out," Mito's clone mused. "Ino, you'll be squad leader, Matsuri, Fuu, you'll join her." Ino balked at the responsibility as Matsuri pulled Fuu, who had roused herself, to her feet. "This is a B-rank messenger mission. Only engage with the enemy if you have no other choice, these are S-rank criminals that will kill you without a second thought."

Matsuri swallowed thickly and Fuu nodded seriously, though the pallor to her cheeks remained. Ino narrowed her eyes.

"Mito would be faster," she countered, "she could get to them far faster than any of us."

"It would be a bit difficult to run at full power when you're low on chakra," the clone said simply, forming a seal with her hands before slamming a palm against the ground. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

Smoke appeared before they got a glimpse within and Temari and Kankurou stared.

"Is-Is that a tanuki?" Temari asked finally.

"Mito-sama!" The tanuki leapt onto her lap with its teeth bared.

"Hello, Bunseki-san," the kagebunshin smiled. "How would you feel about tracking down Uzumaki Naruto?"

"The fox-boy?" Bunseki asked just to be sure. Naruto's scent had always struck him as a bit odd. "No problem!"

"The front gate in five minutes, you three," the clone said pointing towards the three Medic-nin. "Time is of the essence. You'll want to get in front of the Akatsuki if you want to pass on the information to Naruto and Jiraiya-oji."

And then the three were scrambling with Fuu and Matsuri racing towards their rooms to collect their things and Ino disappearing off in the direction of her home.

And the clone picked up her cup of tea like nothing had happened.

Nothing short of a miracle was going to get Mito down from the mountain. Well, nothing short of Hizashi awakening or Mito's siblings being cleared to leave Konoha.

More likely the latter than the former.

* * *

Temari climbed the mountain alone long after the trio of Medic-nin had raced off with their tanuki, hot on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's tail and after Kankurou had decided to engage Gaara in a game of shogi, since their younger brother hadn't played before, while Mito's clone had wandered off to give a mission to some Chuunin that had been lazing around.

" _Kotetsu, Izumo! Hey! Get back here!"_

The green-eyed shinobi could hear the tell-tale signs of training long before she arrived: yells of aggravation and trees splintering.

When she finally found her, her sister was sitting on the ground with a large scroll open in front of her.

"Training hard?" Temari guessed and Mito jolted, whipping around to look to her, clearly startled.

She grinned widely at her response; it wasn't easy to startle the ex-ANBU, but she must have had her full attention.

"Something like that," Mito muttered, running a hand through her wild hair. It was longer than Gaara's and Temari wondered why she didn't just tie it back. "Unfortunately, there's only one other shinobi still alive that can use the Mokuton…and he's busy."

She scowled at the scroll on the ground in front of her like it was its fault that she was in the situation that she was in the first place.

Temari smiled at the expression. It reminded her of Mito when she'd been younger, always in the presence of Kouga-san as he tried to teach her Juuken without the Byakugan. It was easier when she'd been able to see, but then there was that mishap that had blinded her…and Mito's attitude had become stormy.

"What?"

Green eyes blinked and Temari saw Mito looking at her in confusion.

"It's nothing," Temari said quickly, embarrassed to be caught reminiscing. "I was just remembering back when we were all in Suna and you were having a hard time with Kouga-san's Taijutsu style."

Mito's lips drew downwards in a frown and Temari was sorry to see it as she plopped herself down on the ground beside her.

"I'm glad you're happy here," she told her bluntly, so much so that Mito couldn't help but stare at her. "I'm serious."

Mito looked doubtful. "You sure? Because I would've thought you'd like it if I was still in Suna."

Temari couldn't deny that the relationship with Mito was a complicated one and that it would have been remarkably simpler if she stayed with them in Suna, but the fact remained that Mito had a distaste for her birthplace.

"We would've," Temari agreed, "but this place…it's your home more than Suna ever could have been."

She had walked through town with Mito at her side a few days ago, when Mito had finally recovered from her chakra debt and the way the villagers treated her…it was a far cry from what Mito had described.

There was a reverence that couldn't be denied, Mito had saved a lot of lives with her remote healing, and it was apparently enough to hold sway over the masses. She remembered Mito saying how the civilians avoided her like the plague ("I blame that bastard Danzou," Mito had grumbled, "releasing information that's been sealed… _asshole."),_ but while some were still wary, others were grateful.

A shy little girl had given Mito a flower that Mito had stuck behind her ear the whole day, as a thank you for healing her mother.

"Besides," Temari added, "You're more Konoha than Suna."

Her Kekkei Genkai, the birthmarks on her cheeks, her use of water, earth, and fire-based techniques…

"You're Tobirama's great-granddaughter."

Mito's eyebrows knotted together. "So are you," she countered.

Temari gave her a dry expression. "You look it more than me. And Tobirama was famous for his Suiton jutsu."

That point could not have been contested.

"Here..." Mito's words caught in her throat and Temari looked to her in surprise. "Here I've got a chance to be seen as something more than the monster I was in Suna, you know?" Her violet eyes were imploring Temari, and Temari, who remembered the most of their mother, remembered those eyes on Sabaku no Karura. "I've got a sensei that teaches me even knowing what I've done, I've got friends and a boy who likes me." A faint pink dusted across her cheeks. It was cute, Temari mused. "I love being here."

Her eyes were shining and Temari reached over to ruffle her hair affectionately. "You grew up all right, Mito."

Mito complained under her breath, swatting her sister's hand away even as the blonde laughed. _"Nee-san!"_

But that only made her sister laugh.

"Want to see my Mokuton?" Mito asked her once she'd fixed her hair from the mess her sister made, smiling brightly at her.

"All right," Temari said, looking half-amused and half-interested. The Mokuton, after all, was a Kekkei Genkai thought to have died with the Shodaime Hokage and Temari had only gotten a brief glimpse of it during Mito and Ino's match.

Mito formed the appropriate hand seals of the technique she had been practicing. " **Mokuton: Mokujouheki (Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall)!"**

She slammed her hands into the ground and wood shoot up from the earth, moving together to make a semi-dome shield of wood.

Mito grinned widely at the sight of it. She'd been working at the jutsu for the better part of half an hour.

Then she turned back to Temari, whose eyebrows had risen high on her forehead. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Well, that would be one way to put it," Temari said, still gazing at the woodwork before dropping her eyes to Mito. "Who would have thought my baby sister would end up with two Kekkei Genkai?"

Mito's cheeks flushed with pleasure.

* * *

It took a full day of running for Ino, Matsuri, and Fuu to gain a bit of distance from the village and get closer to the destination of where Naruto and Jiraiya were, but doing so really wiped the girls out, more so Matsuri and Ino than Fuu, since she had larger chakra reserves and greater stamina.

By the time they took a break it was late and night had already fallen, so the best thing they could do was set up camp for the night.

"Are you sure we're getting closer, Bunseki-san?" Matsuri asked dubiously, chewing on a piece of questionable meat that Fuu refused to identify even after it was cooked. It was a little stringy, but it didn't taste too terrible, so she couldn't complain.

"Mm-hm!" Bunseki swallowed his own bit of meat. "Their scent's getting way stronger!"

"And we're close to a nearby village, Shukuba Town" Ino mentioned, pointing it out on the map, "maybe a few hours away…and it's got a lot of casinos."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Fuu asked with a frown.

"Well, Tsunade-sama is kind of famous for being a gambler, a really bad one," Ino grimaced, tangling her fingers into her short ponytail. "She's racked up a lot of debt and I think Mito's tried to help pay it off."

"She has?" Matsuri asked in surprise. "But I thought she didn't like Tsunade-sama?"

"Does Tsunade even know what Mito's up to?" Fuu asked, flopping back onto her sleeping bag.

Ino shrugged her shoulders. "I haven't heard Mito talk much about her mom." Whenever someone brought up her name to Mito, her smile would always get a bit stiff. "I don't think Tsunade-sama bothered to keep in touch, and that's always annoyed Mito."

"I'd be annoyed too if my mother ignored me," Fuu muttered.

"Um, I'll take first watch," Matsuri volunteered and Ino agreed to take second while Fuu ended up with third.

Hopefully the next day would be more fruitful.

* * *

The glow from the candle hardly lit Mito's room, but it didn't really matter.

Mito pulled on the dark blue shinobi trousers and the lighter blue kimono top before pulling blue protective armor over her chest, doing up the straps on the sides.

She had bought it when she'd been dragged by Ino to the shinobi gear shop to buy new clothes, but she had never really had a reason to wear it before.

But the Akatsuki were strong enough to defeat Fuu when she'd still had Choumei, she was going to need all the protection she could get.

Her old ANBU black gloves were drawn on, disappearing under the hem of her sleeves before her arm guards were bound to them and her shin guards tightened over her calf.

"You're leaving?"

Mito started at Gaara's voice, whipping around to see her twin framed in the doorway and then she sighed. "I forgot how little you sleep," she muttered, shaking her head. "Yeah, I'm going after them, just to be sure."

Even if Ino, Matsuri, and Fuu were strong, the Akatsuki were S-rank shinobi, and they were only Genin (something which one of them wasn't even).

They weren't to be trifled with.

And Naruto…he didn't have any idea how strong they were.

"I could go with you," Gaara said.

" _No!"_ Mito snapped automatically and he tilted his head back in surprise as she tied her Konoha happuri to her forehead. "Don't put yourself in danger like that. It's safer for me to go, besides, you're confined to the village, remember?"

The area where his eyebrows should have been drew together as he scowled. "We are the same," he countered.

"But they don't know that, do they?" Mito gave him a wink. "Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

And as the sun crept over the horizon, Senju Mito left Konoha, too focused on her task to realize she was being tailed.

* * *

The sunlight cast a shadow on the figure standing on the ledge outside of Hatake Kakashi's apartment, unseen by the Jounin within as she listened intently.

From the talks, it had been made clear to her that Kakashi's state had been brought on by a battle with the two Akatsuki members, probably more of Itachi than the other; his Sharingan was deadly.

"It appears they haven't found Naruto yet," Gai said, perching on a chair near his rival's feet, while Asuma sat with his legs hanging off the desk, while Kurenai stood close to the door.

"But don't you think that's strange?" Asuma asked, searching for his cigarettes. "Those guys had already infiltrated the village, it should have been easy to find Naruto, since Itachi knows Naruto's face—"

" _Sh!"_ Gai hissed suddenly and the door swung open and Mito's clone chanced a glance into the room to see Sasuke enter.

"Kakashi," he said before falling silent once he took in all the people in Kakashi's apartment and Kakashi's condition itself. "Why is Kakashi sleeping? And why are there Jounin in his room? What are you doing here? What happened?"

"Nothing…in particular," Gai said evasively.

The sound of hurried footsteps caught Mito's ears as Yamashiro Aoba's voice asked, "Is it true that Itachi's returned? And that he's after Naruto?"

It was clear he hadn't been anticipating on Sasuke being in the room when he said that.

" _Idiot,"_ Kurenai muttered as Sasuke rushed out past Aoba.

"Why does this always happen?" Gai complained.

Asuma shrugged, lighting his cigarette before tapping on the glass. "Hey, you going to join us, or just skulk around?"

"I don't skulk, Asuma-sensei," Mito said, cracking the window and hopping inside with a small scowl on her face. "I was just waiting for a proper moment."

"Sure," Asuma drawled, "so, what d'you know?"

The Jounin in the room stared as Mito grinned widely. "Naruto isn't in the village, so there's no way Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame would have found him anyways."

Kurenai started in surprise while the others breathed a sigh of relief. "Where is he?"

"He left with Jiraiya-oji two days ago," Mito said simply. "And when the Akatsuki showed up, I sent Ino, Fuu, and Matsuri after them to explain the situation."

Asuma grumbled at the loss of his student. "Wouldn't you have been faster?"

Mito shrugged. "I'm up in the mountains," she lied, "it's not like I have a lot of chakra right now to run at full speed."

"Can you help Kakashi?" Gai asked her.

She shook her head helplessly, looking to the unconscious silver-haired Jounin under the bed covers. "I'm not permitted to use jutsu until she returns. You'll just have to wait."

It was an odd request…why would Mito make a clone that couldn't use jutsu? What exactly was she doing up in the mountains?

But who was to say that Mito hadn't done exactly what Asuma had said?

They missed the smirk on her lips as she leapt out the window.

* * *

"Oh, hey, Chouji! I didn't know you were up here."

Chouji grinned at Mito as she stepped up the stairs to come out on the rooftop, closely followed by the brown-haired Genin that was on Hinata's cousin's team. "Hi, Mito, looking for Shikamaru?"

Said boy grunted from where he was sprawled, half-asleep.

"Looking for both of you actually," Mito corrected. "I have a mission for you."

Shikamaru opened his eyes. "And you're replacing Ino with Tenten?"

"That's right," Tenten said brightly.

"This is technically a D-rank mission, so it will be comprised of a single three-man Genin squad," Mito continued.

"No sensei?" Chouji asked in surprise.

Mito grimaced, raking a hand through her hair. "We're a little short-staffed with a lot of shinobi still recuperating in the hospital with severe injuries, so you'll just have to make do without a Jounin sensei."

The repairs were slow work, but at least it was work.

"What kind of mission is it?" Shikamaru asked dubiously, sitting up and eyeing the clipboard in her hands speculatively.

"Supply run," Mito said shortly with a wink in his direction. "The village is running low on weapons since the attack, so we need you to run out and pick up an order from a nearby supplier."

She tossed a scroll up in the air and Tenten grabbed it. "Tenten-san is team captain."

"EH?!"

Tenten gaped after her as Mito turned right around to head back down the stairs. "What d'you mean _I'm_ team captain?"

"Exactly that," Mito called over her shoulder. "Sort everything out on your own!"

"Well, that's helpful," Tenten grumbled before turning back to the boys. "Is she always like that?"

They shrugged as one.

"She's been really busy lately," Shikamaru considered. "She probably doesn't have much time to dole out missions."

"And we get stuck with a D-rank while Ino gets a B-rank," Chouji complained. "That's so unfair."

Tenten stared. "Your teammate went on a B-rank without you?"

"She went with the rest of Mito's team," Shikamaru agreed.

"Hm." Tenten frowned thoughtfully, wondering what kind of mission it was to be given to three Genin.

* * *

Mito leapt from tree to tree, her nose twitching as she followed Naruto's scent, and Bunseki was right, the fox was overpowering Naruto's scent, but that made it easy to follow.

While she leapt through the trees, she dug a hand into her back pouch, pulling free a small, round pill and crunching it with her teeth.

She didn't usually rely on food pills, but she couldn't deny their effects, and Mito had a feeling she was going to need an extra kick.

Especially with the two new scents intermingling in the general direction that Naruto and Jiraiya –closely followed by Mito's three apprentices– had headed.

Mito jolted suddenly when a fireball made its way towards her. A muffled swear left her lips as she kicked off of a nearby trunk, flipping through the air to land in the clearing just beyond the forest.

"It seems you were right, Itachi, we did have a tail."

Hoshigaki Kisame's voice was low and guttural and rang in her ears for all the wrong reasons. She had only seen his face for a few moments on her mission in Taki, but it wasn't an easy one to forget.

His teeth were razor-sharp, something all the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shuu (Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist) seemed to have, and his skin was too blue to be considered pale.

His companion, on the other hand, was much fairer in skin tone with dark hair in a low ponytail and eyes crimson Sharingans.

"Not to seem rude, but you weren't the ones I was following," Mito replied coolly. "But if it's all the same, keeping you away from Naruto was my original intention, so…" Mito gave a helpless shrug.

Uchiha Itachi tilted his head. "It's been a long time…Senju Mito."

His companion started in surprise at Mito's surname, but she didn't even blink.

"It has, Itachi-san," Mito replied, her arms tense, ready to fly through hand signs, if the need ever arose. "But now we're on different sides…that should make this interesting."

Mito may have displayed an outwards calm, but she was very far from that internally. Itachi and Kisame outstripped her by far in their abilities and it wasn't any wonder they'd managed to overpower Fuu.

"Ah, Sasori's—" Kisame started to say before drawing short and grinning at Mito who frowned.

Sasori's what? Old weapon? Former apprentice?

"You want to get to Naruto, you'll have to get through me first," Mito said fearlessly.

Kisame reached up to grasp the hilt of his odd sword, broad and wrapped in bandages. "I wouldn't mind that," he said, "I'd love to spill some more blood."

Itachi said nothing.

Mito gritted her teeth together. The problem was, she didn't know all that much about her opponents, and most of that information dealt with Itachi not Kisame…and Mito knew nothing about that sword of Kisame's, if it was a sword at all.

Oh, well, she was just going to have to wing it.

She clasped her fingers together. " **Futton: Koumu no Jutsu (Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique)!"**

Acidic mist parted from her lips, melting through the rock and stone and making the earth steam and blacken.

Both leapt back to avoid the attack.

Kisame's grin grew. "I'll take this one."

Itachi said nothing, watching her from over the collar of his coat. It was clear she was outmatched, no matter how skilled Konoha's Akai Senkou was, she was still only a B-rank shinobi, and compared to their S-rank status, she fell short.

And she knew it.

Mito brought down a chakra-compressed fist to the ground, causing it to crack under the force.

"Too slow!"

Kisame had leapt forward, bringing his bandaged weapon down on Mito, but Mito had been expecting that too.

Her hands glowed with chakra as she reached up to catch the blade with her hands.

"Big mistake!" Kisame called, tightening his grip on the sword's hilt.

Mito's eyes widened as the chakra covering her hands was absorbed into the sword, right before sharp protrusions shredded into her hands and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"Your blade," Mito growled, "what is it?"

Kisame smirked widely, holding his sword in front of him. "Samehada," he said, "doesn't cut, he just rips you to shreds!"

"Wonderful," Mito said dryly, her hands burning as the blood dripped to stain the ground.

The trouble was Mito was more used to close-combat and even her mid-range jutsu wouldn't do much to stop any of Kisame's attacks…that blade was formidable.

"I hope that's not the best you've got," she said coldly as her chakra forced the wounds closed. "'Cause it's going to take a lot more to bring me down."

And they both leapt forward in a clash of jutsu.

" **Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan (Wood Release Secret Technique:Nativity of a World of Trees)!"**

" **Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Bullet technique)!"**

The area around them exploded.

* * *

"That's all I've got for today," Mito told Shikaku, handing over the dictated scrolls of the missions she'd given and shinobi she'd sent out on their respective missions.

Shikaku merely hummed in response, taking the scrolls from her a split second before she poofed into smoke and then he stared at the area where his apprentice had once stood.

_What the hell?_

* * *

Naruto opened the door to the hotel room he and Jiraiya were staying in only to stare at what lay beyond.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, taking in the sight of the three shinobi with one tired tanuki hanging off one of their shoulders.

"Looking for you, numbskull," Ino retorted, pushing past him into the room with Matsuri and Fuu on her tail. "Where's Jiraiya-sama?"

"Probably getting lucky," Naruto complained.

Matsuri gaped at him. "You're joking, right?"

"I wish." Naruto scowled. "What're you guys actually doing here?"

"We're on a messenger B-rank," Fuu informed him. "There's some people after you."

"After me?" Naruto parroted. "Why?"

The blank stare he received made him start as he dropped a hand to his stomach. "You mean—"

Fuu nodded grimly. "We need to get Jiraiya and—"

She pulled the door open and suddenly found herself face to face with a pair of Sharingan eyes. Fuu froze as though carved from ice.

"Taki no Fuu," Uchiha Itachi said smoothly as though not sensing the tension filling the small room, "shouldn't you be dead?"

Despite being completely white in the face, Fuu still grabbed the top of the door frame, swinging her legs up to collide with his midsection, pushing him back against the opposite wall.

" _Move!"_ she shouted and the Genin piled into the hallway, trying to make a quick getaway, but the two figures blocked their way.

"The blonde, eh?" Hoshigaki Kisame uttered and Fuu tried not to let her fear be as obvious. "Who'd believe a kid like that had the Kyuubi?"

Naruto choked on his air, his eyes bulging in their sockets. _How did they know that?_

Bunseki whined from Ino's shoulder as she shifted her weight to her dominant leg. "What is it, Bunseki?"

"His sword," Bunseki said, twitching his nose in Kisame's direction, "it stinks of blood."

"So?" Matsuri said to Ino's left.

"It's Mito-sama's blood."

Ino's heart fell into her stomach. She hadn't seen Mito hardly bleed in training, and in the Chuunin Exams when Ino had sent her through the wall…but the amount of blood Bunseki was talking about…that had to have been a substantial amount.

Matsuri stepped forward, bold in her anger. "What did you do to Shishou?" she demanded, curling her hands into fists.

Kisame smirked while Itachi said nothing. "So that little brat was your master, huh? Too bad. She died screaming."

Naruto and Matsuri lurched forward, murder in their eyes and it was only the grips of Ino and Fuu respectively that stopped them.

"Long time no see," Itachi spoke suddenly, though his attention was not on the congregated Genin before him, "Sasuke."

They all jerked, looking beyond the two Akatsuki members to the dark-clad figure behind them. Sasuke was out of breath and it was clear that he'd run there from the village, his Sharingan was active and angry.

"Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke spit out the name and Naruto's eyes became wide circles.

An Uchiha?

"Huh…Sharingan," Kisame said. "He resembles you a lot…who is he?"

Itachi didn't even turn around. "He's my younger brother," he said simply.

Fuu tensed. So he was her murderer's younger brother?

Naruto openly gaped _. What the hell?_

"But I heard that the entire Uchiha clan had been murdered, by you."

Ino's eyes narrowed and Matsuri paled; he killed his whole clan?

"Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke growled, "I will kill you!"

Itachi finally turned to face his younger sibling.

"It's just as you said. I held a grudge against you and hated you," Sasuke said coldly, the air around him growing thick from the static as Kakashi's typical Raiton style jutsu was activated. "For the singular purpose of killing you. And now _I will kill you!"_

The jutsu threw off electric charge and the Genin ducked as the wall exploded.

* * *

They had barely been running half an hour when Tenten signed for them to come to a stop.

"What is it?" Chouji asked as Tenten perched precariously on her branch, a deep frown marring her lips.

"I've taken this path more times than I can count," Tenten said. "And this forest isn't supposed to stretch beyond this point."

Shikamaru's eyebrows drew together.

" _Shikamaru-kun, check this out!"_

_Mito's eyes were an impossibly bright sapphire as she held a scroll open for him to see. "It's one of Hashirama-ojii's jutsu! He used it to make a whole forest, how cool is that?"_

"Mito," Shikamaru said suddenly and a pair of dark eyes and grey ones fastened on him. "She was looking into a jutsu that could create a forest."

Tenten gaped. "You're kidding me…"

She'd always thought it was an exaggeration when it had been said that Senju Hashirama built the forests around Konoha from his chakra alone.

Apparently not.

"But wasn't Mito still in the village?" Chouji asked, glancing towards Shikamaru who was growing steadily more annoyed.

"She probably left a kagebunshin behind," he grumbled, hopping down from his branch to land on the ground and the other two followed suit. "Troublesome."

Tenten took a few steps forward only to crouch down suddenly, palming at something on the ground.

"What'd you find?" Chouji piped up.

"Blood," Tenten said flatly and Chouji's face fell and Shikamaru's paled. "Mind if we take a detour before continuing the mission?"

Neither disagreed as all three followed the blood trail as it scattered through the trees.

"It stops here," Tenten murmured as they came before a large oak, "but—"

A drop of blood fell down into the puddle and three heads jerked up to see a form tangled in the branches, and the tuft of red hair told them exactly who it was.

"Chouji," Shikamaru said his friend's name through numb lips, and Chouji was already moving, expanding his hands and arms to raise them to help pull their friend from the branches and draw her back down to the ground.

Tenten stared at the young Senju in horror. Her arms were a bloodied mess, with multiple puncture wounds, so many, in fact, that it gave her arms an almost shredded appearance. And there was a tantou lodged in her shoulder, just missing her heart.

But she was breathing, stirring feebly where Chouji had lain her before her eyes finally opened only to wince shut, a low hiss parting her lips.

"Ah, shit!" Mito muttered as Tenten helped her sit up against the trunk of the tree she had moments ago been trapped in.

Shikamaru curled his hands into fists. "You- you _idiot!"_

Mito stared, and she wasn't the only one. Chouji couldn't recall a time when Shikamaru had ever gotten angry enough to yell.

"You nearly got yourself killed! _Again!"_

Shikamaru remembered what it was like to stand at his –then– friend's bedside while she rested, half-dead, and this was just as bad.

Then Mito's eyes softened. "Don't worry about me, Shikamaru-kun, I heal up quick." She gave him a smile that only had him shaking his head, his jaw tense as he crossed his arms, looking away from her.

"What happened?" Chouji asked in concern. "Weren't you back in the village?"

"Kagebunshin," Mito supplied, confirming Shikamaru's assessment before wincing as Tenten helped bandage up her arms. "I went after Naruto, I wasn't sure Ino and the others would get to him in time, so I decided to buy him some time."

"For what?" Tenten asked.

"There were two S-rank missing-nin in the village looking for him," she supplied, "I engaged them only to buy Ino and the others time to find him and Jiriaya-oji." Her face pinched as Tenten tied the bindings on one arm, moving to work on the other. "Hoshigaki Kisame's blade caused me a bit of trouble, but they were way too strong for me to handle." She sighed. "I might've lasted a bit longer if he hadn't shown up."

"Who—?"

Mito tilted her head, staring straight ahead and three heads turned to see a corpse hanging between the part in the tree's branches, a gaping hole in his chest, the ANBU mask hid his face.

"An assassination attempt, by Danzou I'm sure," Mito drawled, glaring viciously at the corpse. "He got in my way, tried to take me out with a single stab to the heart…too bad he lost his in return."

She grinned briefly and Tenten was reminded of her bloodthirsty twin.

"Danzou," Chouji repeated. "Who's he?"

"One of the village elders," Shikamaru said, sitting down heavily beside his girlfriend, "he doesn't really like Mito."

"He thinks I'm a threat to the village," Mito corrected brightly and Shikamaru shook his head.

"You're impossibly troublesome," he swore.

She winked. "But that's what you like about me, right?"

Tenten coughed politely and both their cheeks flushed, clearly forgetting where they were. Chouji sniggered behind his hand.

"There, done," Tenten said, finishing Mito's other arm in time for Mito to raise it to her stabbed shoulder. " _Hey!_ What're you doing!"

Mito gave her a bland stare as her hand glowed with green healing chakra. "Do me a favor and pull this out, would you?"

Tenten thought that might be a bit detrimental, but she did what she asked. Blood seeped from the wound for a few moments before Mito managed to staunch it.

She breathed in and out sharply. "I'll be fine," she murmured, more to herself than to them, and when she pulled her hand away there was hardly a sign that there'd been a wound previously.

Then she pulled herself upright.

Chouji reached out an arm to steady his friend, worry spread across his face. "Should you really be moving around? You lost a lot of blood, Mito, maybe you should rest first."

"No time," Mito said, a determined glint in her eyes despite her pallor from decreased blood flow. "I've got to make sure Naruto's safe—"

"What if she's there?" Shikamaru pressed and a dark shadow passed over Mito's face.

"Then I'll deal with it," she said and Chouji thought he'd never seen her look so exhausted before she leapt up into the trees.

"She?" Tenten questioned. "Who's 'she'?"

Shikamaru heaved a sigh. "Her mother."

* * *

"What kind of Sannin are you, anyways? Getting distracted by a woman when Akatsuki guys show up!"

Ino had never seen Matsuri so furious, and that was probably the only thing that kept her from realizing just how powerful the man she was yelling at was, but Ino couldn't blame her.

Itachi had hit Fuu with same thing that he had Sasuke and both were down for the count. Ino knelt down, holding Fuu's head in her hands, examining her closely.

Her usually very lively orange eyes were blank and unseeing.

It was unnerving.

"Fuu and Sasuke-teme will be all right, won't they?" Naruto demanded.

"They're just suffering the effects of a Genjutsu—" Jiraiya explained as patiently as he could with half his face bruised from a surprise attack by Maito Gai. He looked to Ino and Matsuri. "I don't suppose Mito showed you how to take someone out of it?"

Matsuri glared venomously. "That's what we were supposed to be doing right _now!_ But Shishou sent us on this messenger mission! And now—" Matsuri's lower lip trembled. "S-She's _dead!"_

"No, she's not," Jiraiya countered swiftly. "I placed a seal on her when Tsunade first named me her godfather—"

"You put a seal on Mito-chan?" Naruto demanded aghast. "What about me? I don't have a seal on me do I?"

He ran a cursory inspection over his form and Jiraiya spared him a slight smile, ruffling his blonde spikes affectionately, even though Naruto quickly batted the hand away with a scowl.

"Tsunade asked me to put it on her," he said.

"Mito won't like that," Ino remarked, looking up from Fuu.

Jiraiya gave a simple shrug; he hadn't placed the seal on Mito because it would make her happy.

"I'll take Sasuke and Fuu back to the village now," Gai interjected shortly.

"No," Ino shook her head with Matsuri, "Fuu is our responsibility, we'll bring her back to the village ourselves."

If Mito was, as Jiraiya said, alive, then the first place she would come was to them, so, for now, it seemed like the best option was to stick with the Sannin and Naruto.

* * *

"Yoshino-sama, there's a Sabaku no Temari here to see you."

Yoshino nodded to her clansman, arching an eyebrow at the blonde-haired girl that stepped onto the engawa she was sitting on with a polite bow.

"You're Mito's older sister, right?" Yoshino enquired, taking a sip of tea from her cup. "The one who fought with my Shikamaru?"

These weren't really questions, but Yoshino had been a Nara for years, and had been a shinobi for even longer, she knew that one of the best ways to get information was to act like you knew less than you did. Shikamaru liked to use that trick on Mito when she was irritated with him (which wasn't very often).

"Yes," Temari said, rubbing her fingers together nervously, a gesture that Yoshino recognized as Mito's, "and you're the wife of her sensei."

Yoshino smiled fondly. "That I am."

"Do you know where my sister went?" Temari asked bluntly.

An eyebrow rose on Yoshino's forehead. "Isn't she in the village giving Genin and Chuunin missions?"

"Not anymore," Temari said with a frown, "We haven't seen her for more than a day now."

Yoshino considered her and then she smiled. "Don't worry about it, Mito's probably on a short mission."

She hid her unease behind her smile, remembering how concerned Shikaku had been when his apprentice's kagebunshin had suddenly disappeared.

* * *

Ino narrowed her eyes at the two women sitting across the table from them. The one on the right was not the one that drew the most attention, favoring dull purple robes to match her dark eyes and black hair, the one on the left however…

Senju Tsunade and her adoptive daughter looked nothing alike, Ino could understand now why people always doubted Mito was a Senju. Comparing Mito's wild crimson locks and bright violet eyes to Tsunade's light blonde hair and brown eyes…there was nothing similar.

"You got a problem, kid?" Tsunade asked, narrowing her own eyes in return of Ino's stare.

"You and Mito aren't very much alike," Ino said, crossing her arms and surprise colored Tsunade's face while the woman beside her –Shizune, she'd said her name was– leaned forward slightly.

"You know Mito-chan?" she asked quickly. "How is she?"

Matsuri opened her mouth to say something, but Ino nudged her shoulder.

"The last we saw of her, she was fine," Ino said shortly, "a bit busy, but fine."

"Busy?" Shizune asked.

"Shishou's the assistant to the Hokage," Matsuri said shortly.

"Shishou?" Shizune's eyes widened as she looked to the short girl garbed in crimson. "She's your teacher?"

"Do you even care about her?" Naruto demanded of Tsunade suddenly, glaring at her for his cousin's sake. "You just left her and didn't try to keep in touch, what mother does that?"

Naruto knew that if his mother had done that, he'd be pretty upset with her; was it any wonder that Mito didn't like to talk about her?

"Watch your mouth, Naruto," warned Jiraiya.

"I don't care if the village does want you to be the Godaime," Naruto snapped, ignoring his godfather. "You hurt Mito-chan and that's—"

He had shifted in his seat and the red gem on its chain around his neck jostled and Tsunade's eyes snapped to it, recognizing it instantly.

"Where did you get that?" she said suddenly.

"That would be from me."

Several heads twisted towards the newcomer's voice.

"Hello, Kaa-chan," Mito said, as frigid as a snowstorm.


	27. Midnight Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of interest towards the Mito-Tsunade confrontation, and I can't blame you, it's bound to be interesting! I was actually going to have a lot more violence, but that's not really Mito's thing.
> 
> And a huge apology for the long wait between updates, but nursing school and college in general is more exhausting than I'd originally thought.

"Shikaku?"

"Hm?" Shikaku looked to his wife whose brow was wrinkled in concern. "What's wrong?"

"You don't think Mito's in trouble, do you?" she asked, tapping her chopsticks against her plate as she considered him. "Her clones are pretty durable, aren't they?"

The fact that one exploded in front of him several hours before was rather troubling, just about as troubling as having to explain her sudden disappearance to the elders.

"Mito's probably fine," he said after a long moment. "She's pretty good about looking after herself, you know."

"' _Probably'?"_ Yoshino arched an eyebrow. "Those Akatsuki that Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai ran into…they're after Jinchuuriki, aren't they? She's hardly safe out there."

"As far as anyone's concerned, the Jinchuuriki to the Ichibi is Sabaku no Gaara, remember?" Shikaku pointed out before leaning forward to kiss his wife soundly. "Don't worry so much."

But Yoshino still frowned.

* * *

Tsunade remembered clearly the day she'd left her daughter in the hands of the first Konoha shinobi she could find.

His hair was dark, pulled into a spiky ponytail and his face bore slight scarring, recent in how red the slices were.

He had recognized her instantly, which wasn't a surprise, given how famous Tsunade was as a Legendary Sannin.

"Tsunade-sama," he had bowed his head respectfully, blinking down in surprise at the small child at Tsunade's side, holding her hand as she stepped, violet eyes half-dulled from poison.

"You're from the Nara clan, aren't you?" Tsunade had asked, her words close to a bark and Shizune stood tense beside her.

"Nara Shikaku, at your service," he said and Tsunade remembered the name.

It belonged to the kid of the previous Nara clan head, Nara Shikato. She had once spent some time at the Nara clan's research facility, using the deer antler in medicine and she remembered him to be the boy that had showed her where everything was, Shikato's son.

Tsunade ground her teeth together briefly. "My daughter, Senju Mito, is in need of safe passage to Konoha."

Shikaku's eyes had widened, glancing from her to the child who had tugged sharply on her hand.

"But Kaa-chan," Mito had said, "I wanna stay with you and Shizune-nee-chan!"

Tsunade dropped to kneel in front of her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know," she said softly, "but I'm doing what's best for you, Mito-chan."

Tears had fallen from Mito's eyes as Tsunade transferred her hand to the shinobi's who gave his solemn promise to bring her to Konoha safely.

And here she stood, the little girl who had grown into a fine shinobi, her hair as wild as it had been when Mito had first come into her care, eyes even brighter, clearer without the poison affecting her sight.

But the anger in her eyes, that burned at her soul.

"Shishou!" Matsuri lurched out of her seat to latch onto Mito with a sob of relief. _"You're alive!"_

Mito smiled down at her, wrapping her arms securely around the smaller girl. "Of course I'm alive, you know me, it takes a lot more than a few S-rank criminals to kill me."

But her smile was strained and Ino followed Matsuri's example, hugging her friend tightly.

"It was bad, wasn't it?" she murmured in her ear and Mito's silence was all the confirmation she needed.

"All right, there, Naruto?" Mito asked over Ino's shoulder. "They didn't get to you, did they?"

Naruto gave her a pout, crossing his arms. "I'm stronger than I look, okay?"

Mito gave him a dry look before turning to Ino as she released her. "Where's Fuu?" she asked.

"The Uchiha hit her with a Genjutsu," Jiraiya offered, downing a cup of sake and Mito fixed him with a glower.

"And where we you during all this?" she demanded.

Jiraiya coughed uncomfortably, aware of all the attention on him as Naruto gave a crude snort and the same explanation that he had given the girls: "He was getting lucky."

Mito placed a hand on the table, leaning on it and Tsunade saw stress fractures appear on the wood as she spoke with a layer of saccharine to her words. "I'm sorry…did you just say that Oji-san left you to the mercy of two S-rank missing-nin for some _sex?"_

Shizune had never seen Mito angry, but going off how Jiraiya was cowering, it was a force to be reckoned with.

"Now, hang on—"

"I'm not afraid to knock you through the wall, Oji-san," Mito warned. "But I have more pressing matters to attend to."

She crooked her fingers towards Matsuri and Ino. "Come on, we'll leave as soon as Fuu's well."

"Huh?" Matsuri asked, though Ino barely blinked.

"You need to get back to the village, anyways," Mito said to her, "you will be leaving with my siblings once they are cleared."

Tsunade jerked slightly at the mention of Mito's siblings, whom Mito had barely mentioned by name, keeping her past close to her heart.

"I am?" Matsuri asked dubiously.

"Yes," Mito sighed, "you _are."_

She seemed to be purposefully ignoring her mother, and Tsunade couldn't blame her, not after all that she had caused. She was surprised that Mito had even acknowledged her at all, or even called her 'Kaa-chan', that was more than she had been expecting.

Ino swallowed the last of her fish before heading out of the restaurant with Matsuri following after her. Mito took a few steps before Tsunade could lose her nerve, standing suddenly and calling, "Mito."

Mito paused briefly. It was the first time she had heard her mother say her name in years and the little girl that Mito had once been wanted to shake and throw herself to Tsunade, sobbing into her shoulder about how she missed her, but the young woman that Mito was bottled that down under firm resolve and enough anger to burn stone.

She gritted her teeth together, turning her head down slightly and clenching her hands into fists before walking out.

"You really did a number on that girl," Jiraiya sighed sadly, taking another heavy drink of sake while Naruto looked after his distant cousin sadly.

Tsunade couldn't really deny that.

Even when she was partially blind, Mito had always seen far better than anyone gave her credit. And she had touched Tsunade's very soul.

Shizune cast her eyes downwards in defeat as Tsunade drew the bottle of sake to her lips, taking a deep chug of the liquid within.

It wasn't in Mito's nature to be forgiving given how she had been treated; they gave her hope for a family, and then they ripped it away…her anger was well deserved.

* * *

The girls had a rented a room adjacent to Jiraiya and Naruto with two beds to share.

Fuu was tucked into one, seeming to be fast asleep, and Mito might have believed that, if the tension lining her face and the rapid movement of her eyes under the eyelids told her she was still caught in the depths of a Genjutsu.

"Uchiha Itachi," Mito murmured, pressing a hand to Fuu's chest briefly, as though to make sure that all her organs were functioning correctly, "I can't say I didn't expect this." She gestured towards Matsuri. "Come here, Matsuri."

" _M-Me?"_ Matsuri stuttered. The look in Mito's eyes was scary and she couldn't stop the stutter, it was like she was dead behind her eyes; she didn't think that seeing her mother would have had such an effect.

Violet eyes narrowed and Matsuri hastened to her master's side.

"I actually was teaching this to several Medic-nin the day we met," Mito admitted with a small smile.

"I was waiting outside for you to show up," Matsuri admitted a bit sheepishly, flushing when Ino sniggered in amusement.

Mito's lips twitched slightly before she cleared her throat, using the same analogy she had in Suna's hospital, and she recalled those words with ease. "It's easy to think of it like this: when a Genjutsu is used on a person, it is as if clouds are placed over the person's eyes. What you are trying to do is smooth them away, to clear your patient's senses. Since Genjutsu disrupts to flow of chakra to the brain, you cannot simply stop the flow of chakra, or the patient will be pronounced brain dead."

Matsuri swallowed thickly and even Ino looked a bit apprehensive.

"Now, being too gentle will not illicit a response, but doing too hard will cause them pain and might even damage the chakra network. Your chakra should flow just like waves, like you're slowly pulling the clouds away from their eyes; firm and constant."

"Okay…" Matsuri breathed out slowly, pooling chakra in her hand and holding that hand over Fuu's forehead.

It was harder than she'd originally thought; no wonder it wasn't a well-known skill among Medic-nin, but, then again, being exceptionally skilled in Genjutsu wasn't nearly as common as one thought.

"I-I don't think I can do it," Matsuri said, trying her hardest to focus, but it was as though her actions weren't having any affect.

"But _I_ think you can, Matsuri," Mito said, crossing her arms, her lips twisting down into a frown. "Prove me _right."_

Sometimes Matsuri really hated her master for using phrases like that to get her to do things, but it certainly did the trick.

She took a deep breath, calming herself and centering herself, allowing the chakra around her hand where it was resting on Fuu's forehead to strengthen.

Fuu's eyelids fluttered and she breathed out through her nose before her eyes finally slid open.

"What's going on?" she asked tiredly before staring at Mito. "Where'd you come from?"

"Konoha, if you'd believe it," Mito responded dryly. "I heard you three got into a bit of trouble…so how bad was the Genjutsu?"

Fuu shuddered, and Ino couldn't help but frown. "It was like I was back in that cave again," Fuu said, her eyes fixing on Mito's and Mito knew it was the very same cave that she had found Fuu in, the one that she had been killed in. "Over and _over again."_

"I'm sorry," Mito said, sitting down on the edge of the bed looking rather regretful, "that must have been terrible."

Fuu stared up at the ceiling and Matsuri didn't think she'd ever seen the abrasive Taki-born shinobi ever look quite so small.

"I'll go and get you something to eat," Mito added, looking to Matsuri and Ino. "I think the girls can fill you in on everything."

* * *

Fuu awoke from her nap to see Mito at the window seat of their hotel room, her head leaning against the window and she looked out into the night, her face a somber mask.

When Mito had gone out earlier to get Fuu some food, Ino and Matsuri had taken the time to inform her of everything she had missed out on.

It wasn't much, to be fair, but she was still a bit sad that she hadn't been able to see the look on Mito's mother's face when their paths had crossed, that would've been interesting to see.

Ino and Matsuri were fast asleep in the bed opposite the one she was sleeping in, their faces calm, but Fuu knew that they would be awake in an instant, as their training had led them to be.

The plan was to head back to Konoha tomorrow, but that would all depend on how Fuu felt in the morning, though, going off of how she felt right now, which was pretty much fine, she didn't think there was much chance of those plans changing.

"Feeling better?"

Mito tilted her head away from the window in order to get a good look at Fuu, scrutinizing her with narrowed eyes. She was looking pretty good for someone who'd been mostly dead a few hours ago, if Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi were to be believed.

But Mito had Shukaku to help out in the healing process, and it was times like these that Fuu felt Choumei's absence so very keenly.

"A bit," Fuu said in reply, keeping her voice down so as not to disturb their sleeping friends as she moved to the edge of the bed to see her more clearly with the moonlight spilling through the window, painting silver streaks into her hair. "But you're the one that was mostly dead, remember?"

Mito's lips curled into a smile. "I heal fast," she said, toying with the Nara clan symbol where it was still hanging from her neck. She must have been in too much of a hurry to take it off when she'd rushed to head off the two missing-nin. "Shikamaru-kun found me…it's been awhile since I've seen him that angry."

Shikamaru was usually more calm; it was his nature. She could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen him lose his temper, and, funnily enough, they generally had to do with Mito doing something decidedly foolish.

Fuu smirked. "I'm sure it was good for you to be on the opposite end for awhile." Mito was the one that usually did the berating, even if it was just to her apprentices.

Mito's expression soured and Fuu had to stifle her amusement.

"He loves you," she pointed out, her eyes softening just a bit making Mito look up from her twisting hands, "of course he's worried. What you do is far more dangerous than what he does."

Mito rolled her eyes, drawing her knees up closer to her chest. "The assistant to the Hokage?" she snorted before abruptly sobering, "the former assistant to the Hokage, I mean."

"There is nothing _former_ about your job and you know it," Fuu said wryly, "You and Shikaku-sensei have been running around since the attack giving shinobi missions."

A smile curved Mito's lips. "Someone's got to do it."

Silence fell around them as Mito looked back out of the window.

"Mito?"

Mito hummed to let Fuu know she was listening.

"What really happened with you and your mom?" Fuu asked.

Mito's smile stiffened. "My problems go back further than my mother."

"To what?" Fuu inquired in befuddlement.

"People have a habit of abandoning me," Mito said after another long moment. "Shishou gave me up to Kaa-chan…and then she abandoned me to Sensei."

It was easy to forget sometimes that Mito was younger than Fuu, because she had so very much experience, experience that no child should've ever had. Fuu couldn't have imagined what it was like to be trained by someone like Akasuna no Sasori only to be shuffled from master to master.

"Mito? Did you like training with Sasori?" Fuu couldn't help but ask.

Asking that kind of question in front of Matsuri was impossible since Sasori had been the one that had killed Matsuri's grandfather, the Sandaime Kazekage, as well as causing her parents demise, but Matsuri was asleep and Fuu was curious.

"He taught me a lot of important things," Mito admitted before giving a sheepish smirk, "mostly how to control my temper…I think it was him that I liked more."

Fuu arched an eyebrow. "Did you love him?"

Mito appeared vaguely surprised by the question, but all she did was shrug her shoulders. "I don't know," she said sounding a bit forlorn. "I owe him a lot and I did _like_ him…I was a little girl he took under his wing, I _adored_ him." She released a soft chuckle. "I might have liked him but I don't think he felt the same way; I don't think there was enough of him _left_ to love anything."

"What d'you mean?" Fuu's brow furrowed in confusion.

Mito thought about that cylinder that rest in the chest of his puppet-like body, not completely a puppet, but not completely human either. He'd been a bit of a paradox to Mito when she'd been mostly blind.

"Art is meant to last forever," Sasori had said, "You are my art, Mito, I have made you to last."

She didn't think she'd ever be able to understand what those words meant or the kind of certainty they had held. But Sasori wasn't someone who could be easily understood.

"Never mind," Mito sighed. "I haven't seen Sasori in awhile…but my mother's something entirely different."

"Sounds like you two have got a lot of mother-daughter issues," Fuu said, quickly lowering her voice again when Ino shifted where she was sleeping next to Matsuri. Fuu got up to sit on the window seat by Mito, propping her arms on her friend's knees, completely unaware that Ino was only faking her slumber and had actually been awake since Mito and Fuu had first started talking; she was a light sleeper, after all.

"You could say that," Mito admitted dryly. "Personally, I think I might've been happier staying with her and Shizune than going to Konoha without her."

"But then you wouldn't have met your boyfriend or any of your friends." Fuu was ever the voice of reason. "I'd probably be dead, now that I think about it."

Mito grimaced at the thought. "Still, I hadn't wanted to leave them when we crossed paths with Shikaku-sensei. She just kind of adopted me and sent me on my way to Konoha…and she never contacted me afterwards."

The whole thing left Mito a bit sour.

"That sucks," Fuu said flatly.

"You have _no_ idea," Mito retorted, brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

She tried her hardest not to think about her mother most days, because doing so had a tendency to aggravate her. Nara Yoshino had raised Mito for far longer than Senju Tsunade.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Matsuri jolted awake and Ino opened her eyes.

"I'll get it," Mito said shortly, swinging her legs over the window seat in order to stand. "It's probably for me, anyways." If the scent filtering through the door was to be believed, which Mito was certain it was.

"Go back to bed," she added to the three of them and opened the door. "Hello, Kaa-chan."

* * *

Gaara's fingers roved over the scar his sand had carved into his skin so long ago, his brow furrowed as he rested in deep thought, looking up at the moon hanging in the sky.

Everything was so different now, now that he didn't have Shukaku's words echoing in his head. He wasn't as sane as Mito was, but she'd been at it much longer than he had. She was better than he was.

He also wished she could come back with him and Kankurou and Temari, back to Suna. She was the only one who could understand the difficulty of his position, to teach him to control the demon within.

But he knew his twin well enough to know that it was something that she would never choose, not after all that had happened with Suna, not when she'd found a home in Konoha.

Gaara heaved a heavy sigh.

* * *

"I don't think now is really the best time."

Mito's violet eyes were stony but Tsunade couldn't help but be reminded of her daughter's namesake, Tsunade's grandmother, who had had the very same color for her own eyes.

"I think it's the best time, actually," Tsunade said, stiffening her shoulders and preparing for an explosion. She would've deserved nothing less, but Mito's eyes didn't flash with fire, her cheeks didn't flush with color, and she didn't open her open her mouth angrily. "That's why you're leaving in the early morning, isn't it? So you won't have to see me?"

Mito's lips set in a thin line. "Well, I don't really have anything to say to you," she informed her firmly.

"You don't have to speak," Tsunade said, "just _listen."_

Her daughter crossed her arms but said nothing.

"I left you with that shinobi—"

"Shikaku-san," Mito corrected, not even bothering to tack on the usual –sensei to her sensei's name.

"When I left you with Shikaku-san," Tsunade corrected, "I thought it was the best thing for you…you could make friends, you could become a true shinobi, you could be happier there than you were with me."

Mito scoffed in the silence of the hall. There was a better place for this conversation, she was certain of it, but there wasn't anyone else around, so technically the conversation was private. "No, I think you just didn't want to have a kid around…it doesn't really go with your reputation, does it, _Legendary Sucker?"_

Tsunade took a step back, stung by Mito's words and Mito couldn't help but think it was rather well deserved _. "Mito_ ," she said her name gently, "of course not, leaving you at Konoha had _nothing_ to do with that and you know it."

"Do I?" Mito's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't _know_ you and you _definitely_ don't know me."

"Mito, please!"

"I don't want to talk right now," Mito said, shaking her head out like there was a voice in her head she was trying to get rid of a voice in her head, which wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, knowing Mito's tendency to converse mentally with Shukaku. "The girls and I are heading home tomorrow and Matsuri will be returning with my siblings to Suna."

"You're traveling with a Suna shinobi?" Tsunade couldn't help but be confused.

"She's my apprentice," Mito retorted, "now excuse me—"

" _Mito!"_ Tsunade was exasperated. "You can't ignore me forever."

Her violet eyes were far too cold. "I can try," Mito responded with certainty before wrenching open the door and slipping inside before Tsunade could stop her.

All in all, she thought the conversation could've gone a bit better.

* * *

Mito lay awake deep into the night even as Fuu's breaths evened out beside her and Ino and Matsuri slipped deeper into their slumber.

She could've handled her mother a bit better, she supposed, but she was as sour about the situation as she had been the day Tsunade had left her with Shikaku, if not more.

But people, especially her mother, didn't get the opportunity to walk back into her life, not after leaving her the way she had.

Of course, if Tsunade did end up taking the job as the Godaime Hokage, Mito was likely to see her an awful lot more, so she'd have to get over her issues with her mother at some point, just not today.

Maybe it would've been better if Mito had never been adopted…then she wouldn't have to deal with these kind of problems.

But Mito had, and it had been nice while it had lasted, and she had always been more Senju than Sabaku, something that had always been rather painfully obvious.

Still, how Mito would respond to Tsunade's imminent return was a problem for another day.

Mito rolled over and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep.

* * *

Miles away, back in Konoha, the current guard to the comatose Hyuuga Hizashi leaned forward with interest as the slumbering shinobi's heart rate on the monitor spiked and shifting could be seen under his closed eyelids.

But the next moment he took in a sharp breath and eyes fluttered open.

"Where am I?" he croaked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Hizashi's finally awake, that's going to be interesting to write. And Mito will eventually have to work things out with her mom, whenever that will be.
> 
> I apologize, updates with this fic, like several of my others, will be rather slow, but it was on my list to update before the end of the year, so an update for you all to enjoy, though I'm not sure when you'll get another one.
> 
> Shikamaru should be in the next chapter, but no promises.


End file.
